Pater Familias
by Madhog thy Master
Summary: A father without a family to protect... Equals nothing! "Tails" Saga's brand new episode! And this time, it's a huge crossover!
1. Chapter 1

**PATER FAMILIAS**

* * *

**1.**

Life… Such an overrated concept. The infinite replay of the same nefarious cycle, from birth to death, over and over again. A fate no one is able to avoid… Although some tried, in vain. In this preposterous maze we call existence, the only certainty we have is that we're all destined to die… When such thing would happen? That's when Chaos always had the last word. And this barren wasteland was just a fine example of this tragedy.

The creature stood tall and still, apparently unaware of the freezing weather of the zone… Or his cold heart simply was unable to register it. His inhuman / un-Mobian eyes were fixed over the immense voidness that lay upon him.

So cold, so distant… So dead.

The mysterious being looked completely unfazed over the spectacle the merciless winter had to offer. After centuries of this view, he got used to it… As sadly as it would sound.

This world used to be lively and solar, the kind of place writers and poets from all the ages would dream about, the kind of land that many would only consider it to be an un-arrival Utopia.

Well… Now it became a Dystopia.

All thanks to them…

All thanks to them…

The cycle of Life and Death, as inescapable and tragic as it could seem, was indeed the balance of his existence, the only truth he would need… And yet, such truth, such balance, turned out to be utterly wrong. Because in just a few minutes… Life ceased to procreate… And Death overcame.

And now there was nothing left other then the eternal coldness of the land… And his own. He was a creature that defied the undeniable boundaries of the mortals… A being who could not die.

This world's own God… Who was not flawless.

He gritted his teeth. Rage started its unhealthy building inside the fallen God's body. As lame as it could be considered, there was only one thing he got left to do.

Revenge!

He vowed to himself and to his own people, revenge over the one responsible for this genocide, for the unnatural demise of the aforementioned cycle… For his own misery.

Hatred and Determination filled his frostbite heart as he jumped away from the snow peak he was on, towards the deep abyss right below. In his ancient mind, a plan was already formed… He knew were to find his enemy and he had strong allies who shared his ideal. Only one thing was needed now… A vessel. He knew who to use as well.

A mischievous smile found its way in his unique facial features as the name of his enemy crossed his mind for the umpteenth time.

**_I'm coming for you… __Ixis Naugus!_**

* * *

**Somewhere in the Mystic Ruins.**

"Give up, Sonic… You can't win! I'm just too superior!"

"N-no… I'm not finished yet! IT'S NOT OVER!!!"

"Yes it is… That was a match point… Game over."

"Awwww… I hate tennis." Said the frustrated hedgehog right before launching his racket away in a very immature manner… He hadn't changed at all over the years and not just because he couldn't age.

The victorious vulpine couldn't help but laugh at his poor hedgehog friend's misery. The other one did not look amused.

"Whatcha laughing at? I'm gonna challenge ya to a race here and now, big guy!" He said in his typical cocky tone.

"Yeah sure… As if I would be stupid enough to accept." The younger said while rolling his eyes in fake annoyance.

"What are ya, a chicken?"

"YOU'RE ON, BUDDY!!!"

After losing yet another race, the fox boy returned to his habitation, along with his best friend, of course.

* * *

It's been eight years since all those crazy events that led to the conclusion of the great war against the Eggman Empire and the establishment of several new societies… Both human and Mobian's.

After the end of the conflict, the world didn't feel the need to be united anymore, ironically enough the absence of a common enemy was sufficient to reawake the age-old hatred between the two species… Or even inside them. As a result of this potential clock ticking bomb, several groups of humans and Mobians demanded the creation of their own countries. In order to avoid eventual insurrections, both the president of the United Federations and the Mobian Council authorized the scission. Several countries were born (or even reborn) in the course of the years, one of them was the old city-state of Mobotropolis, that happened to be Eggman's base during the war, ruled by its original monarch Maximillian Acorn, one of the members of Mobian Council which was still considered important for the general administration of the landscape. Another country was the one where the former city of Westopolis used to be, now rebuilt and renamed by its rulers as Echidnapolis… It was a hope more than a title. And then, there was the Mystic Ruins' County, administrated by a governor chosen with free elections, a rare example of democracy that anyone seemed to have forgotten about.

It was in this county that he and his family used to live… As they always did. He's grown up over the years, he looked like a harmless kid no more. He was a couple of inches taller, his famous three head bangs were longer and his voice was just a little deeper. His namesake twin tails were as fluffy and lethal as ever. By now, he was 16… And still the youngest Pater Familias in the world… A thing that managed to cause some rather annoying trouble with the brand new wave of bigot morals that spread all over the land. Luckily, his state of world's hero (as well as all the gruesome rumors that came along) managed to keep his family safe from any dangerous sign of intolerance…

"Ehi, what's wrong, lil' buddy? Sad for that mondo uncool defeat?"

Miles "Tails" Prower slowly turned his head to fix his gaze over his unofficial brother, his facial features were showing a sincere amount of boredom.

"Sonic, I'm not a little kid anymore… Not that I had the chance to be one, in the first place… But I would appreciate if you would stop calling me 'little buddy'. After all these years it started to become annoying." He complained… Causing his interlocutor to grin menacingly.

"Ooooooooh rrrrrreeeeaaaaalllllllly?" He replied with a hint of glee in his emerald green eyes.

Tails looked terrified… Just like a wild animal when sensing the danger.

"Oh no… Don't you even think of that! I'M WARNING YOU!!!" He said with an authoritarian voice… But to no avail.

Before the Kitsune could do anything, his big brother trapped his neck in an almighty headlock and began the ominous noggin torture!

"Who's your daddy!? Uh? Who's your daddy!?" Asked Sonic in a joyful tone.

"AAAAAAH! CUT IT OUT, SONIC!!!"

"Only if ya answer me!"

"Argh! Okay, okay, you're my daddy, for crying out loud!"

"That's better." And then he finally released him. Tails was more annoyed than ever.

"Do you realize how many precious neurons I lose whenever you do that?" He complained while scratching his poor head, Sonic was still laughing like an idiot.

By now, the two friends were back to the fox's home.

* * *

It was still a sight to admire… The modest wood house beside the workshop, the cliff a little behind… And the new tennis camp Tails made out of well treated grass. This was, indeed, his home.

Both Kitsune and cobalt blue hedgehog were sitting on a couple of chairs smartly placed in the shade of the forest's trees. The sun was setting and the marvelous colors of the twilight were already merging themselves into a very romantic cluster. Tails sighed… He'd prefer to have his soul mate with him for this moment, not that he had anything to complain over his friend… Only that such spectacle seemed wasted for him.

"So… How's the others doing, Sonic?" Tails suddenly asked. His eyes were momentarily closed, his fur was savoring the gentle breeze of the afterday.

Sonic shrugged.

"The usual, ya know? Mister and miss Knuckle-head are about to have their second child… Would you believe the horror!?" He joked, clearly referring to Knuckles and his wife (secret sister) Tikal, founders and current rulers of Echidnapolis.

"How's Bunny doing?"

"She's just fine… Just a little distressed sometimes, ya know? Her political role and all… She even dropped part of her fancy southern accent! I used to like that…" He said, small sadness hinted in his artificial skinned face.

"And what about… You know…"

"Amy and Mephiles?"

"Yeah…"

"Aside from some nasty troubles about Meph's 'need to kill any living being in the world' thingy, the two of them are doing just fine… It's been hard, though."

"I can only imagine… Say, have you seen my mother, recently?"

"Nope… Sorry, lil' bro."

At this point, Tails's features fell into a sudden depression… His family was far from being perfect. How could it have been any different? Due to some unexplainable time and space paradox, all of his children (and grand children) were older than he was… And being a good father, as he sadly discovered, was not a simple task… Especially for a kid.

Noticing his friend's lack of response, Sonic put a hand over the troubled fox's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Don't cha worry, bud… You survived worse things. You'll manage to solve these mondo problems as well." He tried to reassure. Tails gave him an odd look.

"I couldn't see my son and his family for three years… None of us could." His azure eyes began to water… He didn't care, though.

Noticing the utter delicateness of the argument, Sonic decided to slightly change the subject.

"How are Cosmo and NiGHTS by the way?"

At this, Tails's gaze lighted up.

"Cosmo is just as gorgeous as ever and NiGHTS… Ooooh, you should have seen her. She's so cute, always wearing that little jester custom of hers." He said, suddenly humored. Sonic seemed a little bit baffled.

"She's still into jesters? Does she still have that gruesome doll?"

"Naaaa… Jackle is broken. She has another doll now, a little less freaky but still quite unique…"

"And what's its name?"

"Reala… Strange name for a doll, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so… Where are they?"

"They're being guests at Vanilla and Cream's place, tonight… Girly stuff, you know?"

"I wish I didn't."

They both laughed for a few seconds before resuming their composures.

"Thanks for coming, Sonic. I needed it."

"Anytime, lil' buddy… I mean, Tails."

The two brotherly friends embraced each other, greeted one final time and then, departed. Sonic disappeared from eyesight with his trademark speed within a Sonic Boom. Tails was left alone, once again.

He gave one last glance at the marvelous sunset, sighed and finally entered his home where he would have probably been consumed by boredom for the rest of the night… Or so he thought.

When Tails first noticed his kitchen sink was dripping excessively, his first instinct as a mechanical genius and proud Pater Familias, was to repair it all by himself.

Huge mistake!

In just a couple of minutes he managed to turn a simple dripping problem into the next big ancient roman fountain… All of this happened no more than 5 days before and he was still waiting for the plumber to show his face, since then. Little did he know that this would have been his lucky day… Although luck should only be seen as a relative concept, I say.

And thus, the doorbell rang.

A few questions crossed the teen's mind, one of these was "who would show up at this hour of the day, besides Sonic or my family?" The answer came in the very interesting and unique form of a couple of humans… Small humans… Mobian sized humans, Tails could say. The kind of people commonly referred to as dwarves. Their shape was quite the sight, Tails had a very hard time trying to hide his stupor.

"Hello? May I help you?" He said in his typical polite manners that made him the best host anyone could ever wish for.

While asking this question, the vulpine had a better chance to properly analyze these two men's figure. They were very similar to each other, they were probably brothers, even twins… They had nothing but a few small differences. One was as tall as Tails used to be and slim, the other was smaller and slightly rotund. They both had very huge mustache under their round noses, but it was their dresses that managed to impress the fox even more. They were both wearing stereotypical plumber vests: the taller one had a green shirt and a plumber hat of the same color, the smaller had them died in red. They both were wearing blue overalls.

Suddenly, the green one spoke, showing a strong Italian accent:

"Good-a evening, have you called for a plumber?"

"Mmmmh… Yeah?" Tails could only say. That answer alone managed to satisfy the mustached wonder.

"See? I told ya this was da house." He said to the other who just hmpfed in response. "Sorry forra being so late, me and my brother gotta lost in the woods." The man in green added, redirecting his attention to their would be customer. At this, the red one muttered something under his breath, the other one's answer didn't late to arrive. "Ehi! It's not my fault if there aren't any shortcut pipes in this world!" He complained.

"Excuse me?" The vulpine advanced, interrupting their discussion.

"Ehrrrr… Nothing. Let me introduce ourselves. I'm Luigi Mario… And this is ma older brother Mario Mario." He paused a second and then, with all the possible emphasis he could master, added: "WE ARE THE SUPER MARIO BROS.!!!"

Tails gave them an even more bewildered look.

_**They are super something alright…** _He thought.

* * *

In the meantime… Something huge and unknown entered this world's atmosphere. Its intentions? They were definitely not good.

At least, not for its victims.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

It was a morning like any other in the big city of Station Square… The weather was warm, the noise of the crowd was overwhelming as well as the inevitable traffic of their hovercrafts and yet another murder scene with its usual amount of gruesomeness could be seen in the farthest part of the city. It was definitely the typical morning of your average metropolis… Except for one simple detail: this murder was not your typical one. It wasn't the kind of crime caused by racial motives, nor it was the result of an attempted burglary… Or at least, that's not how it looked.

Despite being considerably early in the morning, the murder scene was already surrounded by policemen, news reporters and the usual curious (aka sadistic) bunch of people who couldn't wait to catch all the goriest details with their high-tech mobile videophones. In the midst of such living mess, a couple of human reporters were desperately trying to get to the scene before any of their rivals could.

"Okay, Ulala… We're on." The guy with the camera said. His companion nodded in response, put her mike under her mouth and started her speech.

"Good morning Station Square, this is Ulala from Channel 5 with breaking news. Around 5:00 am, the dead body of a Mobian mongoose has been found in the outskirts of the city by some homeless people… As you can see, the authorities are already on the scene, trying to deal with the general commotion. We still don't know all the details about this event but we can easily confirm that it was not an accident nor a suicide. With a bit of luck we'll be able to give you more informations. This is Ulala from Channel 5."

"Ok, done."

She relaxed and took a deep breath.

In all of her life, Ulala always wanted to be a news reporter. She was thrilled by the possibility of voyaging around the world, giving informations to the people, the truth, the facts… She didn't imagine what a job like this was really all about. She learned the extreme relativity of concepts like Facts and Truth, she learned that someone's truth could very well be someone else's façade, she learned that interesting news were more sellable than real news, as far as reality went… She learned to be cynic and, sometimes, this made her stomach turn. Today was one of those days.

"Ehi… Are you ok?" Asked her younger colleague.

"Yeah… I'm just fine." She replied, maybe a little too hastily. He didn't look convinced. "Let's just finish this… I need my coffee." She almost muttered, irritation audible in her voice. He just sighed in resignation… There was no point in arguing with her.

If there was one thing that would make Ulala unforgettable (besides her personality) was her attire… She wore a bright orange top shirt and a cheerleader-like short gown, high-heeled boots of the same color and long gloves.

She had lilac hair encased in a couple of huge side ponytails. She looked like some kind of an alien chick from old sci-fi movies. Where did she manage to find such outfit was a question forever doomed to be left unanswered.

Her colleague was not any better. He was wearing a yellow shirt with some indescribable graffiti-like line written on it, he had black pants and rollerblades on his feet. They were useful when it came to avoid thick crowds, he would say. He had red hair, huge old school headphones on his ears and a couple of fancy glasses that covered a good half of his face.

Both humans were quite the couple.

"Oh… They're finally letting us in. Let's go, Beat!" She suddenly uttered to her loyal yet, easily bothered, cameraman.

Once they got near enough, they could finally see why this murder wasn't like any other they'd ever witnessed.

Apparently, the victim has been… Threaded on. Or better, completely and utterly squashed. Its bones had been reduced into splinters, its organs were splattered like washed up clay, all of its body was as flat as a road kill in a cartoon-like fashion. Its blood covered grand part of the floor… Probably because it exploded from the corpse like a broken fountain. Something really big must have done this to that bloody pizza that used to be a mongoose.

Needless to say, Ulala's stomach started the second French revolution in front of such view… Greater than her horror there was only her bewilderment. This murder was just too ludicrous to be true yet, there it was… In all of its awfulness. In her mind, she made a swear… She was going to find out the truth behind this case or die trying… Right after she would finish throwing up her intestines out of pure disgust.

* * *

Hidden in the farthest corner of the zone, where the forest began, a solitarian creature was observing the commotion… A single smirk came out of its mouth.

"So… It came."

**"_Who? Who came?"_**

"…."

* * *

**The day before.**

Now he knew for certain that the "Super" in their name, wasn't referred to their plumber abilities. After just a few minutes of tinkering, they managed to transform what already looked like a disfigured roman fountain into a miniaturized aqua-park! If he would have had some swimming donut in hand's reach, he would have probably slide with it… Such was the mess. Still, Tails was known for being a patient guy, always willing to give people a second chance to prove their worthiness… Or in this case, a third and a forth… Or even a fifth.

"I think I know what da problem is!" The full wet form of Luigi, the green plumber, suddenly stated to his silent older brother, who by now looked more annoyed than ever.

"IT'S THE PIPES!!!" Luigi cried enthusiastically. Mario just smashed his gloved hand on his face in the classical "my brother is an idiot" kind of manner. At this, Tails couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you real plumbers?" He asked, finally dropping his "perfect host" façade for the sake of mental healthiness.

They both gave him an odd look before starting arguing with each other in a language Tails couldn't quite picture… Probably Italian but he was not 100% sure of it. Then, something rather singular happened… The two sole-proclaimed plumbers exchanged gazes with each other and Tails, stood up from their position… And simply ran away with all their might, leaving a reasonably stunned vulpine wondering just what was that all about.

After exiting his bewildered state, Tails finally managed to realize he's been hoaxed by a couple of idiots and, of course, he felt utterly bothered by it. As a matter of fact, he was furious… Furious with those two fake plumbers' antics, furious with himself for not being able to see through their thick mustache of lies and for not being able to deal with a simple kitchen sink… Furious for his ineptitude as a father and…

The fox suddenly frowned. This was it… He's not been able to do one thing right since his separation from the rest of his family. He couldn't tinker with his old inventions, nor he could invent some new one, he couldn't even touch his precious X-Tornado and all because of his ineptitude in this forced role he had to endure in a very young age. And now, he was afraid… He was afraid that his inadequacy as a father could ruin his younger daughter, his precious NiGHTS… For the first time in ages, Tails truly felt fear about his future and his family's own…

He missed his son. He missed him very dearly. Tears were beginning to pour from his blue eyes as a sudden headache started to hurt his already troubled brain. In just a few moments, that small ache turned into something bigger and more painful… Unnaturally painful. His head was now pulsing as if the brain was experiencing tachicardia, which was anatomically impossible but still a rather clear comparison.

"Urgh… What the heck!?"

He put his hands on his head as if trying to squeeze the pain out of his mind. He closed his eyes as tears of pure sufferance escaped them, blinding his sight. He then thread on the wet soil of his kitchen, falling backwards and hitting his skull on the floor violently enough to lose his consciousness.

* * *

_**This time, the internal part of his mind appeared to him as a seemingly endless frozen wasteland with no signs of life whatsoever… Just coldness. He embraced himself, feeling the shivers his fur was forced to experience. He thought it to be a dream… But that theory immediately backstabbed itself since no one seems to be able to know when he's dreaming or not… Was it something else, then? Was it some kind of a message or a premonition? He have had experience with those kind of phenomenon in the past yet, there was something fishy about this one… The fact that he was feeling realistically cold was a further proof for his theory. And so, the question remained… Just what was happening?**_

_**The answer came in the most unique form possible… The form of a creature the fox could only dream about.**_

_**It was staring at him with his cold, red eyes like a predator would do to his prey in the short seconds before the attack. Unlike Tails, this being didn't seem affected by the unmerciful weather they both stood in… Instead, he was still like a vigorous and proud statue, completely unfazed by anything Nature had to put against him, a thing that Tails could have appreciated… If it wasn't for his improvise, and justified, fear.**_

_**The creature was several inches taller than him, a medium sized individual, for the human standards, but that's when the common element with that kind ended. It was anthropomorphic and bipedal, his appearances vaguely resembled the ones of a jackal… The Egyptian God of Death, for being more precise. Its fur was generally ice blue, except for some sinister black strings that covered part of his arms, ears and face. Its belly fur was of a white yellow… Beige color. His legs and feet were its most animalistic features, totally resembling the ones of a feral canine, not to mention its hands… Or should I say paws, who had a spike encased in their upper sides. Its head was well proportioned compared to its body (which for the Mobiankind was a rarity), it had a long jackal-like snout and long pointed ears with a curious couple of dreadlocks coming down each side of the head. **_

_**In the boy's mind, this individual looked already threatening even before he began to speak… Which only improved his distress about this being.**_

**"_We finally meet… Vessel of Intelligence." It said with a very low and grave tone that managed to scare the vulpine more than necessary. _**

_**Three things he could conclude when he first heard the creature's voice:**_

_**1) He was male;**_

_**2) He didn't need to move his lips in order to speak… Apparently he could use telepathy;**_

_**3) He was looking for him. And that was definitely NOT a good sign.**_

_**Tails managed to reply his answer, despite the frostiness caused both by fear and the cold weather.**_

**"_W-who a-are you?"_**

_**And thus came the being's answer.**_

**"_My name is Lucario." And with that said, all Tails could do was to watch in horror as the jackal-like demon began to run towards his direction, bad intentions depicted in his cold red eyes._**

_**In just a matter of seconds… Two separated individuals, became one.**_

* * *

**Present time.**

**"_Who? Who came?"_** Asked the unwilling foxy vessel to his forced guest / possessor.

"…."

**"_Answer me, Lucario! Who we're up against!?"_**

And thus came the being's answer.

"… The Author's Right Hand."

And for the umpteenth time over the past few hours, cold shivers of fear came across Tails's fur, even though he couldn't sense it… Definitely NOT a good sign.


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

**The day before.**

It was late night when the vulpine managed to regain his previously lost consciousness. He felt reasonably dizzy and confused, the world looked like a blur to his unfocused eyesight. His head still ached, causing him a temporary photophobia. He didn't even bother asking himself what just happened, he already knew he could not answer his own question… Which, sadly enough, was not a novelty. He couldn't care less anyway, nothing really mattered to him anymore, neither his precious logic nor his inventions… Everything seemed to be nothing more than white trash compared to the utter madness of this world, a world that he couldn't understand anymore… Or never did, in the first place.

He felt even more miserable now… And not just because he was an adolescent, he had a real reason to feel that way. Little did he know that, in just a few moments, his prior problems would have become his last ones. Even though, his eyes were yet to regain their balance due to the aforementioned dizziness, he could still sadly well notice that there was something, let's say, different about his body. He wasn't able to guess it with scientific precision but he was feeling a little… Heavier than usual… Even taller. He dismissed it as a simple hallucination caused by his recent commotion, although he was the first one that didn't believe in his own theory. The Kitsune made a few steps forward, only to notice a sudden lack of balance in his now giant canine feet…

"Wait… WHAT!?"

Caught by sudden panic, the boy began to stare at his own features in agitation. Unfortunately for him, his eyesight wasn't blurry any longer so he could very well see what seemed to be wrong with his anatomy. Tails's gaze was now wide open in understanding horror as the view of his brand new spiked paws that used to be his hands reached his knowledge. Something in his soon-to-be-damaged brain clicked ferociously as he darted towards his bathroom with his foreign legs.

Now, I wish to open a figurative window and speak about a very interesting concept that managed to captivate part of our artistic culture after the discovery of Psychoanalysis:

The Mirror Image.

It has been said that our image on the aforementioned mirror is the ultimate confirmation of a one's identity for the individual in question… Therefore, when the individual is unable to recognize his own reflection, the sheer amount of suffering that would come as a result, will probably be unbearable… Such tragedy is usually accosted to people who suffer of amnesia yet, this one is not quite our case. There are other theories about the role of the mirror in our collective imagination, too many to analyze them all, but there is one in particular that could rather goodly fit in this gruesome situation.

The theory of the Alter-Ego.

Encased in the mirror, there is not just a pale reflection of an individual but rather, the image of what he would despise about himself… Almost as if it were another person, separated from himself, mocking him with its only presence.

In Tails's case, both the previous theoretic concepts could be considered awfully literal since, when he looked himself in his bath's mirror, not only he did not recognize his own image… But his image acted of its own, as if it were another person, which, in the vulpine's now screaming mind, was registered as an immense and disfiguring tragedy… Among other things.

As far as reality went, his current one was that he now looked exactly like that blue jackal he'd seen in his dreams (which, logically speaking, were not dreams) and while he could not help but cry his lungs out in terror, his mirror image was the portrait of coldness.

Suddenly, the reflection managed to break the supposed undeniable boundaries of its prison and grabbed the bewildered canine. In just a matter of seconds, Tails found himself forced away from his plan of existence into a whole new one… Just like Alice. The only difference was that, this time, the white rabbit wasn't the pursued but the captor and this journey was not the result of reckless curiosity… Definitely NOT the case.

* * *

_**He was dreaming again… Or maybe he was awaken… Or somewhere in between. He didn't know anymore, not that he'd ever knew, for that matter. All he could register was that (thankfully) his body features were back to their normal appreciable vulpiness and that he was not alone. As soon as he surpassed his initial shock, the fox boy realized where, or better when, he ended up.**_

_**8 years ago.**_

_**Angel Island.**_

_**Hidden Palace's roof.**_

_**The last fight against Ixis Naugus.**_

_**It was the particular moment in which the old sorcerer was about to unleash the ominous power of Project: Doomsday, the nuclear weapon that would have caused the end of every life form on Terra Firma. He remembered that day with scornful clarity… Sonic, Knuckles and himself were trapped inside ice coffins provided by their enemy's magic. Naugus was absorbing the power of the Master Emerald in order to open a portal between their dimension and his own… Where the nuke resided. Just when all hopes seemed to be vanquished… A rather unexpected twist happened to drastically change the situation. It was totally uncalled for, it looked like a divine intervention or the doing of a crazy writer or both: Shadow the Hedgehog, Mephiles's twin brother (and body sharer at the time), came out of nowhere and entered the opening portal, sacrificing his own life in order to prevent that catastrophe to even begin…**_

_**After that, the portal closed and a bemused Ixis Naugus found himself surrounded by three Chaos powered, pissed-off Mobians who couldn't wait to kick his rear end. Naturally, he did not survive that encounter as his rotten corpse was reduced into tiny shreds.**_

_**The end.**_

_**The end???**_

_**Tails shook his head… No, this was not the end, it wasn't anything like it, as he realized immediately after.**_

* * *

_**This time, he found himself in a totally different environment… An environment that he was not familiar with, since it was not his own memory. It was that creature's memory… What was his name again? **_

_**Lucario.**_

_**Apparently, this used to be his world. It was a beautiful, green land covered in ravishing flowers and lively plants. Rivers and other courses of water went down from fancy rock formations as amusing singing birds performed their antics… All in all, this place was a natural heaven, a literal utopia one could only dream about… The kind of place that was not bound to last forever.**_

_**The sunny weather of this land forced the Kitsune to find a proper shady shelter… He found it in the form of a gargantuan statue. A statue of this world's God. A statue of Lucario.**_

_**Tails was admiring it in awe when a bunch of people completely unknown to him, approached him and… Began their worshipping. Taken aback by such reaction, the boy was yet to realize that his physical features had changed again into his jackal counterpart's. Initially annoyed by such preposterousness, he sighed in resignation as he finally decided to give up the fruitless wondering and see what his "guest" wanted to show him.**_

_**It didn't late to arrive.**_

_**Ominous clouds began to appear as the once noisy birds immediately ceased their singing… The weather slowly changed from warm to cold… To colder… To freezing. The sun disappeared behind those black, thundering clouds. Everything and everyone, including Tails (or should I say, Lucario) stood in perfect silence, watching this abnormal spectacle in anticipation and fear.**_

_**The thunders started cracking, hitting everything they could… Killing everything they could while they still would have had the chance to do it… **_

_**Because, in just a matter of minutes, this world would end.**_

_**And thus, it would come… Through the dooming clouds it would appear… And Death it would bring. Tails's eyes widened in utter shock as he witnessed this world's demise by the Doom's Vessel itself…**_

_**Project: Doomsday.**_

* * *

_**Sometimes, it is rather ironical how the Universe works… One would think that its true form is purely chaotic and unpredictable yet, someone else would think that it is ruled by a precise balance… Whatever the inexplicable reason would be, it didn't change the fact that, while a dimension managed to escape from certain demise… Another one paid the price for it. Somehow, the nefarious weapon managed to travel through time and space until it finally reached its final destination… In Lucario's dimension.**_

_**And so, there he was… This world's fallen God, former protector of his people and only survivor of the nuclear holocaust that destroyed his home… And his children.**_

_**All because of them…**_

_**All because of those people from that other world…**_

_**All because of Ixis Naugus and his foolishness. **_

_**In the midst of the eternal nuclear winter, the jackal stood, on his knees, screaming his lungs out of pure rage and despair… Just like a father who's lost his own children… Just like a Pater Familias who could not defend his most prized possession. **_

_**In the end, a God without worshippers was like a father without a family… **_

_**Nothing.**_

_**The end… For now.**_

* * *

_**Once the Ragnarok-like scenario dissolved into nothingness, Tails was in his usual form again. His face was the portrait of… Several things.**_

_**Shock.**_

_**Fear.**_

_**Guilty.**_

_**Sadness.**_

_**Sympathy.**_

_**And so on…**_

_**He and the others were indirectly responsible for Lucario's tragedy, this was what he believed as those gruesome images would run through his mind over and over again. Like it or not, the cold eyed canine's memory was now his own… And so it would remain, forever.**_

_**Slowly, the two-tailed Kitsune turned his head to fix his now blank gaze over the former jackal God, who, by now, had rejoined him. Lucario's ruby eyes didn't betray a single emotion, not that he needed to show any, since his "host" has been forced to experience his own trauma. Then, he suddenly spoke. His words were short but clear. His tone was dead serious.**_

**"_I need to find something… Will you help me in my quest, Vessel of Intelligence?" This is what he said. Tails's reply was even shorter but full of determination, as well._**

**"_Yes." And thus, with not so many words to waste, this unlikely alliance was sealed._**

* * *

**Present day.**

**"_What do you mean, 'the Author's Right Hand'?"_**

"You shall find out soon enough, but as for now… We better move." And with that said, the surprisingly agile form of Lucario darted away from the nearby spot of the murder scene.

His… Their destination? Only they knew it…

At least, for now.


	4. Chapter 4

**4.**

Life… Such an underestimated concept. After uncounted years of solitude in the un-lively environment his home used to be, to witness a spectacle like this one was something he could not help but appreciate. Sure, it was nothing compared to what his world used to look before the holocaust that destroyed it but, then again, memories can be a real backstabber, sometimes… They could make you believe something long lost would look better than anything present or vice-versa. Despite this forced comparison, the simple yet, majestic show of Nature the Mystic Forest was engulfed with, was enough to let Lucario do something he didn't or couldn't do for quite a time… He relaxed.

The mysterious jackal was sitting on a random rock in the middle of the woods, admiring, staring at the ravishing vegetation and small animal life that surrounded him. The Flicky birds were quite entertaining with their genuine singing, it was probably the mating season for them.

Nature and Life were so fragile yet, they would survive everything no matter what… Almost everything. In this Chaos we call Existence, nothing was eternal… Not even Gods. That was what Lucario firmly believed in that moment… That was the basis of his ideals. The same ideals that became his current life reason. His only certainties…

From the deepest part of their common consciousness, Tails could clearly feel his discomfort as if it was his own. His problems were nothing more than nuisances compared to the jackal's own… Although the sheer dimension of a one's troubles compared to another one's should be considered thoroughly relative. When Tails accepted to share his body with this fallen God, their minds began one too. They would feel what the other would feel, they would remember what the other would remember, and so on. There were still though, certain memories who's access was strictly forbidden, remembrances out of their respective body sharer's reach. Hidden memories and emotions too important or personal for their owners… And they were both fine with that. Somehow, in this precarious situation, they both managed to maintain their own privacy… And that said something!

Lucario's cold bloody eyes were fixed and focused, his paws were caressing the ancient trees around him, his mind was feeling their presence.

Plants.

It was funny… In the exact same moment he thought about them, an old memory came back to his mind, an ancient, almost forgotten memory about a certain someone he happened to know in the far past, when he was yet to become a God… A very special person in his life.

**"_Who's her, Lucario?"_**

Immediately, the blue canine suppressed his own thought, he didn't want his vulpine "host" to know about his past more than he already knew.

"Nobody… Let's get moving." He replied with his unemotional and grave voice to the young fox's question. Tails felt a little awkward with Lucario's reaction… Then again, it was hard not to be shy in front of a Godlike being such as him.

Without missing a beat, the aforementioned creature, and current holder of the common shell, darted away at almost sonic speed. The Kitsune from within, couldn't help but smile at the thought of him meeting with Sonic… That would definitely be hilarious.

"Who's this Sonic, if I may ask?"

Tails snapped out of his pseudo daydream (or daymare, if you will), realizing that his "guest" was accidentally experiencing it. The only difference from before was that the vulpine didn't have problems over sharing this particular thought with others.

**"_He is a dear friend of mine… He's the fastest being in this world. I'd like you to meet him, one day."_**

The running jackal took a moment or two to reflect about this eventuality, then answered.

"If he is as half annoying as your mind depicts him, then I'll gladly pass." At this, the younger boy inside of him couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. Even Gods had a sense of humor, apparently.

Even Gods suffer.

That particular thought, as the fox realized, was totally uncalled for and he wished he didn't let his mind slip into such impolite statement.

"What defines a God?" Suddenly asked Lucario as if answering his latest thought.

**"_Uh?"_**

"Is it the awesome power he possess? Is it his immortality or the fact that he created a whole world with its own inhabitants out of pure nothingness… Out of his own dreams, even though he has no idea how he did it?"

**"_What are you…"_**

"Or is it the fact that other people… People who depend on you… Your own children… Treat you as their God? Do you know the answer, young one?"

**"… _I… I don't."_**

"Well… Neither do I, which is quite embarrassing due to my supposed 'divine knowledge and wisdom', isn't it?"

**"……"**

"And yet, for a bunch of people, I was their God… Their raw model and protector… Their father… I realize that perhaps, part of their demise was my own fault. I was an overprotective father. I never let them to actually grow as a real population… I've always treated them as children, never giving them the chance to 'leave the family nest and fly with their own wings'…" Tails was listening with profound interest, not daring to interrupt him. Lucario continued. "The sad truth is… I was afraid they would forget me. I was scared of the idea of being forgotten by my own creations… They were part of me and yet, they did not depend on me, they could provide for themselves, I knew that… If I only would have let them to evolve into becoming a full grown civilization, then maybe…"

As Lucario's confession abruptly ended, the two-tailed Vessel of Intelligence known as Miles Prower, could simply not help but cry. The tragedy of a father who failed to cover such role, was a torment Tails could very well understand. His sobs were like daggers in the already suffering soul of the former Father and Creator known as Lucario. He just kept running, ignoring the sudden pain… His mind was once again focused on his objective… Their common objective, which was the only thing that would keep him alive, physically speaking.

It was indeed true… Even Gods suffer.

* * *

"How did they know he was a mongoose, by the way?"

"They saw the documents in his wallet."

"So… It wasn't a burglary, after all."

"It just seems so… Unearthly."

"Mmmmh…"

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I'm too old for this madness of a world."

"Ehe… That's not a matter of age, buddy."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"So… Are you going to investigate?"

"I'm still a G.U.N. agent… It's in my blood and I can't help it."

"In other words, you're on! Great! Awesome! I knew I could count on you, gramps!"

"Don't call me that, Beat! I'm not retarded yet!"

And with that said, the phone conversation was over. Beat was relieved, to say the very least. Being an undercover G.U.N. agent inside a potentially subversive news channel was quite the stress factory, he could tell. He was just happy that someone else, someone more masochist, was there to secretely take care of this gruesome case… Unfortunately for him, his current "superior" wasn't of the same advice.

"Beat! Where the hell did you go!? I've been looking the entire studio for you!" Said a particularly upset Ulala to his now worried to death "assistant".

"Ehi ehi, easy there, boss… When a dude has to do it, he has to do it." Went his casual answer. She looked bewildered, he could easily tell.

"What?"

"I had to go to the bathroom and… Empty my container, if ya know what I'm saying." He replied while rolling his eyes behind his ridiculously huge glasses. She didn't look amused.

"Whatever… Follow me, you lazy butt!"

"Where are we going?"

She gave him a diabolic, almost possessed, look that managed to freeze his blood right on the spot. She took a deep breath, making sure to give each and every word she was going to say, its necessary amount of suspense.

"We… Are going… To win… A FREAKING PULITZER!!!"

"… You mean, YOU are going to win a freaking Pulitzer." He added, already feeling the impending doom.

"SHUT UP!!!"

In the fake cameraman's mind, this day couldn't possibly begin better… Not even if his cover would have been spoiled.

* * *

In the old man's mind, this day couldn't possibly begin better…

As he exited the underground bar he used to hang on for some time after his supposed retirement, one question kept replaying in his aged mind: "why this world has become so rotten?" And the answer he would usually give: "because we exist." And that was the only truth he could understand as a war veteran…

As a killer.

* * *

There are moments, in one person's life, in which things he gives for granted turn out to be utterly wrong. We've already established that a one's certainties are not, by any means, absolute due to the endless possibilities of Chaos (which is not an absolutist theory per se) yet, there is a huge difference between knowing about such concept and actually enduring it… And a certain cobalt blue robotizied hedgehog was just about to understand why.

Sonic the Hedgehog was known for being a rather carefree individual, not even the metallic tragedy his life has been doomed with managed to erase his usual cocky and reasonably annoying attitude, mainly because he had a very close friend who could understand him and cheer him up… A little brother, in his mind, that he thought he knew everything about. That is why, when the certainties he thought he had about him inevitably shattered into imaginary smithereens, his own world followed suit. Together, both Sonic and Tails have been able to survive the worst crisis this world has ever seen and yet, the vulpine has not been capable to deal with his personal issues, causing his downhill. The hedgehog felt a painful sense of betrayal towards his buddy… Tails lied to him. He said Cosmo and NiGHTS spent the night at Cream and Vanilla's place, but it was a lie, they never came to Station Square, either… As Sonic personally checked. He cursed himself for the lack of faith he was experiencing over his friend but, as he sadly realized, before yesterday, he hadn't seen him for three long years, right after the events that forever changed his livelihood… And his family's own. Where did the girls go? And why Tails lied to him? Those were a couple of questions the hedgehog was about to get an answer from… Or so he would, if the only one person who could possibly show him the Light, wasn't missing.

When Sonic returned to the fox's house, he found it tragically deserted… And quite untidy. As a matter of fact, the place was quite the mess, it almost seemed as a couple of would be plunder midgets tried to turn the kitchen into a miniaturized aqua park, but that was highly improbable. None the less, Tails's house looked like some kind of an underwater dungeon from some random fantasy videogame world… It was THAT untidy. Right now, the fake skinned hedgehog was seriously worried about his pal's wellbeing, he dearly hoped he didn't make any foolish act he would regret. As if on cue, the rodent's preoccupations diverted their attention to a fine, old fashioned videotape that was lying neatly on the living room's table. The phrase "watch me" was written on it. Without missing a super sonic second, the namesake hedgehog took the tape, put it inside the recorder under the TV, turned it on and sat on the sofa in eager anticipation. What he saw only managed to worry him, even more.

The image of Tails appeared on the screen, his gaze was showing a dangerous amount of tiredness with a hint of sadness… It started talking.

"Hello… Mmmh, well, how should I do this thing… I wish I'd prepared a Chaosdamned speech, oh whatever… I'll try to be brief since the only one who's going to watch this tape is probably you, Sonic… So, here it is: I lied to you about Cosmo and NiGHTS but I suppose you already know that by now… They are not living here anymore. They left me a couple of months ago… I did it again, Sonic. I'm a total failure as a father and as a Mobian as well. Ehe… I was probably too young for that role anyway. I'm all alone now… Pathetic, isn't it?" Sonic was mouth agape, his worries towards his friend were justified, after all. The vulpine on the screen continued his rant: "For this reason, I've decided to change things for good, to give a fine cut with my previous life and begin a whole new one… With brand new certainties." At this point, the hedgehog was almost overwhelmed by concern. "You see… I've met this guy, this very unique individual… I've met him yesterday, right after our separation. He's been able to raise me from my own misery… To give me a new reason to live my life… To fulfill a goal. He was the only one who could understand me… And I was the only one who could understand him, either. Please, don't feel betrayed by my new behavior, I can assure you that this is something I… We need to do… We are going to fix everything, I swear it!" Emerald green eyes were widened in shock as he apprehended of his former buddy's sudden personality change. Tails's azure eyes were now narrowed, showing dead seriousness as he finished his speech. "Don't try to follow me, Sonic… I'm serious here. Come back to Bunny and the others, live your life peacefully and… Just let me do this thing. Sayonara… Big bro." And with that last, tearful line, the video ended.

Sonic stood there on his sitting spot for a while, staring at the ominous blankness of the TV screen, wondering about pretty much everything about his last years of life, his few knowledge, his acquaintances and friends, his not so certain certainties… And so on. Then, he made a rather important decision, he was going to chase down his best buddy… His little brother… Whether he liked it or not, he would go after him and pretend some rightful explanation.

Yes, he was going to find Tails or die trying, because he was not just an ordinary fast hedgehog… He was Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! The fastest mondo cool hedgehog in the world! And a true friend.

Without missing any other vital microseconds, he darted away within a Sonic Boom that managed to mess Tails's house even more than before… His destination? He didn't know it yet.

At least, for now.

* * *

From afar, a couple of suspicious mustached men were observing and judging the recent developments with great interest… It was time to put this show on the road, as they realized while smiling mischievously.

"I'm sure it was the pipes, by the way." One of them suddenly said to the other, who immediately responded by punching him on the head… His un-mistakable "my brother is an idiot" facial expression once again perfectly shown.

In the same moment, Tails's kitchen exploded. Apparently, there was something wrong with the water pipes.


	5. Chapter 5

**5.**

What would an average police detective do in cases like this? He would probably look around for clues or evidences, he would interrogate witnesses and he would certainly try to find a perfectly logical motivation behind the criminal act, because the academy taught him that when you find the motive then you find the guilty…

Bullshit!

The idea of a perfectly logical reason behind any kind of murder, was simply idiotic in the old veteran's mind. The world does not work that way… It is not about Order and Balance, at least not in the common sense of the words. He had seen the true chaotic form of this planet, he had seen people slaughtering other people for the sheer joy of it or just because they were bored… He had seen little kids explode right in front of military vehicles… He had seen young soldiers getting crazy due to the hell they've been put through… He had seen War. He had seen the madness this world was made of and he realized that this madness, was actually… Normal.

That is why he could not approach this particular murder in the classical detective-like way, simply because this case was pure craziness … And therefore, perfectly normal in his life's routine. It was not the first time he had to deal with this kind of senseless violence, as weird as it could sound, he have already had a gruesome, very similar, experience in the past.

* * *

It was 20 years ago, in a remote, lost location in the middle east of Overland… His home. There was a violent civil war going on, he and a special task force of highly trained soldiers have been assigned with the specific goal to "clean things up". The weapon technology was rather primitive for the time being, therefore they only had to rely on their assault rifles, their knives, their C.Q.C. techniques… And their bloodlust. Naturally, it was a massacre. Men, women and even kids… No one has been spared. That is how his government used to "bring democracy among the primitive populations"… And he was a solid part of it. He was known to be like a snake, a perfect silent killer who would slip behind his victims and take their life away from them, with the same infamous rapidity of a serpent. Through all of his life, his military life, he's been known by the media as a legendary hero… But in truth, he was nothing more than a simple killer who happened to be that damn good in what he used to do… Just like a snake. For this reason, his codename couldn't possibly be more appropriate…

Solid Snake.

* * *

The old man's face looked visibly tired and, overall, bad aged. His hair and mustache were white and his skin showed the merciless doing of time. Death had always being his closest companion during all these years, but for the first time since that day, he felt completely weak and defenseless towards its ominous presence… That is probably how people feel when they grew older but, of course, I could be wrong about it. The former mercenary once known as Snake took a cigarette out of the pocket of his jacket and lighted it up with a spare match. He knew he shouldn't smoke at his age but, quite frankly, he didn't give a damn since he was going to die anyway...

Right now, his mind was focused in the events that occurred 20 years earlier.

* * *

He and his group, the Foxhound, have been victorious… If it could be considered a victory, that is.

Then… It happened… All of a sudden.

Snake has never been the type of guy who would believe in a God or that kind of stuff… But on that day, what he witnessed could have not possibly be explained rationally.

A hand.

A big, white hand appeared in the sky. Its ominous, large features managed to eclipse the sun itself. He remembered that, at some point, many of his comrades started praying and / or confessing their crimes, as in fear of the Apocalypse. Things only went worse when the giant hand began… To laugh. A diabolical laugh. A loud laugh that echoed through all the land, causing several people's ears to bleed into suffering deafness. And then… The new massacre began. People, either soldiers or civil, were unmercifully threaded on by the Godlike hand. Blood and organs splattered all over, lives brutally ended, useless cries of mercy shut in an instant… And it would laugh for all the time. They didn't deserve mercy, they shouldn't have been alive in the first place, all humans should have died during the earthquake that destroyed and remodeled the world's surface, all those millenniums earlier. Perhaps, God has realized his mistake and he was trying to fix it… For good.

When the slaughtering ceased, he was the only one left alive… Not for long, though. The God hand took its sweet time to approach his fear frozen form. For the first time in his life, Snake felt that his hour had come. He braced himself, already savoring the chance of escaping from this rotten world and this ungrateful life… Luckily (or maybe, unluckily) for him, Chaos had different plans for his existence.

Chaos Control, for being more specific.

As the famous green miasma of the aforementioned Chaos technique, appeared nearby him, even the giant hand couldn't help but being surprised. And so, the author of the greatest oxymoron this world has ever seen, proudly came out of the smoke and revealed himself as G.U.N.'s best biological weapon.

Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form!

With his weird green gem tight in his hand and his unearthly calmness, he started shot at the white menace with his peculiar beam attacks until it decided to disappear into the nothingness it came from. For reasons that went beyond Snake's comprehension, Shadow came to this site just in time for saving his life, not that he didn't appreciate the effort, it only sounded… Too much convenient. Whatever the reason was, three things were awfully clear:

1) He was still alive;

2) This whole story was going to remain a military secret;

3)The Master Hand (as it would be dubbed later) was not invincible.

* * *

And apparently, it was back. Too bad Shadow wasn't around this time. He deserted G.U.N. almost a decade ago and no one has heard of him ever since… Not that he did anything wrong. In the man's mind, he was the brave one... He is the only one who's ever had the guts to flee from the army, he envied him for that. In the end, despite what he was meant to be, he wasn't a war-addicted. Right now, however, there were other problems at hand… At hand? That was an awful joke. In any case, Snake had his hands foiled with this murder… Again, a stupid involuntary pun. From now on, I'll stop noticing them.

He was currently at the crime scene. The police had already taken all the proofs, so there wasn't anything he could use as a clue… Except for all the blood, of course. He was frustrated, to say the very least, he didn't even have a base to start his investigation. It was at that precise moment that his still fine hearing system captured a rather suspicious noise… Acting on instinct, he made a lateral somersault, took out his loyal Operator, aimed and shot towards the direction of the noise. Nothing happened.

Visibly startled, the former mercenary recovered his standing position and, with amazing stealth abilities, approached the zone where he sent his previous bullet. He didn't find anybody… Just a random, piece of paper attached to a wall with gluing tape. He took the paper and read it. The message was rather clear and to the point.

_**The two-tailed fox and the blue jackal are the key.**_

If his life experience taught him something, was that trusting random conveniently placed clues, was never a good idea… But since he was desperate, he wasn't about to spit on it. He couldn't quite place a finger over who or what this blue jackal would be, but as far as the two-tailed fox went… Snake's mind clicked in realization, there was only one vulpine with more than one tail in all the planet and his name was…

* * *

"MILES PROWER!!?"

"Why do you always have to yell, Ulala?"

"You don't get it, Beat… This is huge! I have proofs that international hero, Miles Prower, is somehow involved in that mongoose's murder!"

"… What proofs?"

At this, she smiled mischievously.

"You'll see… Bring the camera, we're leaving!"

"Where to?" Said Beat, already regretting his question.

"Well… After him, of course!"

"Did he leave his home in the Mystic Forest?" Asked a now rather interested supposed cameraman. She grinned viciously… Her eyes were flaming with glee.

"A super fast and famous hedgehog who runs around the city asking everybody about his equally famous vulpine friend, does not pass unobserved." She stated, matter-of-factly. He only nodded and awed in response. "First off, we need to catch up with that Mobian and extract all the info we can from his little body!" She added.

"Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaah… Right. Catching up with Sonic the Hedgehog… That's a very brilliant plan, boss."

"Thanks, I know… Now let's go!"

Beat was just biting his tongue in frustration. Apparently, Ulala and Sarcasm, did not meet well.

* * *

It was late in the night. He… They have been running without a break for several hours now. Clear signs of exhaustion were starting to be evident in the black and blue tall canine's features.

**"_You seem tired, perhaps we should rest a little?" _**His inner companion timidly suggested.

"I'm just fine" He answered without moving his lips, thanks to his telepathy.

**"_You know… We share the same body (which is originally mine) and the same mind as well… Therefore I can feel what you feel…"_**

"I know that better than you, boy!"

**"… _Therefore, I know that you are awfully tired, Lucario. You may be a God… But you're in a mortal body right now, remember? Possessing me was your only way to travel through a different dimension without causing a rift in the space / time continuum… So I'd be particularly grateful if you would treat MY body kindly. Do we have an understanding?" _**

Lucario felt a little taken aback by the sudden outburst of authority of the younger fox. It's been several eons since his last scold and yet, this kid had the nerve to tell him, a much older and powerful creature, what to do? He smirked in amusement, he liked this boy's attitude.

"Very well, then… Let's find a fine resting place." He said, maintaining his coolness. Tails couldn't help but giggle within himself for this small victory… Naturally, Lucario felt it.

By now, they had just left the Mystic Ruins County. They were currently traveling on an old abandoned highway and they were headed towards the southern part of Mobius. Following Tails's indications, this was the fastest (non flying) way for their destination… The only inconvenience was that there wasn't any proper place to take shelter for the night, therefore they were forced to sleep under the stars and hope that it wouldn't start raining.

A conveniently flat rock formation was used as an improvised bed. Blinded by a sudden numbness, Lucario positioned himself over the table-like rock and fell asleep almost immediately, Tails followed suit. Due to the lack of visibility caused both by the nighttime and the jackal's sleep, Neither of the two travel companions managed to notice the peculiar hand-drawn graffiti that covered the stone-bed's surface…

Egyptian graffiti. Flat images of flat people getting disemboweled by flat almighty doglike creatures… And their God was there to guide them. It was definitely not a reassuring sign, as the two of them would eventually find out… The morning after.

There was something written on the stone's side in an ancient, forgotten language:

_**When the time shalt arrive, the One and Only shalt descend to this barren land and guide his people into brutal victory. We shalt wait forth the day thy master shalt clean this world from its impurity and eat the flesh of the whom who dares to oppose him. We shalt wait for thee… **__**Great Anubis, God of Death.**_

Definitely NOT a good sign.


	6. Chapter 6

**6.**

It's been 30 plus years from that particular event, as his aged mind could still tell. He was alone, in the middle of a crocodile infested swamp, surrounded by inconvenient water bombs and humongous malaria carrier mosquito, armed with just a useless Swiss knife and a lot of guts…

_**Those were good times.** _Thought the retired soldier, bearing a huge grin out of pure nostalgia.

Apparently, the utter devastation Miles Prower's house was engulfed with, managed to bring that old memory back in the retired mercenary's mind and the comparison between the two scenarios couldn't possibly be more appropriate. The interior was a complete mess, water was still spilling out of the broken sink, reversing its mighty wrath all over the rest of the habitation… The kitchen was no more. Stinky sewer's materials could be easily smelled by the man's enhanced nasal system… To his utter dismay. On the bright side, this whole war zone-like scenario made him feel 30 years younger, even the aforementioned awful smell.

It has been a surprisingly easy task, to get to the vulpine's house, for Snake, mainly because of the practical path that currently crossed all the forest yet, as far as he could guess, a lonely hut like this one, built nearby a cliff, was still the perfect site for people who wanted to stay alone. Snake was not the type of person that would chase objectives without first knowing everything about them, that's a thing he learned during his solo missions… When he was ordered to kill certain targets. Luckily for both the boy and the old man, this was not that kind of task. At least, not for now.

Miles "Tails" Prower was an orphan of the great war against the Eggman Empire (as many others were), his parents were abducted and robotizied by the deranged doctor himself because of a personal grudge he held against the kid… His superior intellect that could challenge his own, for being more precise. At the young age of 4, Miles became one of the first members of the famous Freedom Fighters militia, an army entirely made of young Mobian children by former princess Sally Acorn. He still had his parents at the time. His abnormal intelligence as well as his flying ability and fast reflexes managed to increase his fame among the fog of war. At the age of 8, he was promoted as a vessel symbol of the resistance… Such a heavy burden for a small child, Snake could tell. Miles's name was mentioned in all of Mobius's most important crisis at the time (Project: Doomsday was one of them) as one of the main players in each event… As well as the one of a little girl of an unspecified race, named Cosmo. From this point on, the informations became extremely vague and unreliable: the two-tailed fox was considered the major responsible for Eggman's defeat, along side his two equally known comrades, Knuckles the Echidna, current ruler of the new state of Echidnapolis with his wife, queen Tikal, and Sonic the Hedgehog, who's files are still missing to this very day… Rumors stated that the legendary items known as Chaos Emeralds had an important role in the whole ordeal, but the voices were never confirmed, therefore the presence of such objects could not be considered a fact. That legend, however, was not what Solid Snake found himself most interested in… It was after the Great War that the real mind bumbling details about Tails's life and, supposed, past were revealed… As his unique family group was presented to the world. For reasons that openly defied anything Man has ever considered logical, both Miles Prower and the girl simply known as Cosmo had a son... Who was older than they used to be.

This alien teenager with the peculiar name of Void was father of a child of his own that he have had from former princess Blaze the Cat, a famous war heroine, none the less. This child was named Lumina Flowlight (Chaos knew why) and, apparently, she was as old as her parents. A series of questions crossed the public opinion's collective mind, too many and too twisted for being mentioned in the Kitsune's files, but one in particular stood above all the others… How could this be physically possible? That was a question that was starting to bumble Snake's mind as well. His brain began a quick reasoning…

When Void and Lumina were shown to the world, they claimed to be younger than their respective parents and grandparents but no one believed them, it was too obvious that their sole proclaimed relatives were not older, plus, everybody knew that Miles was 8 years old and puberty didn't hit him yet… As far as they knew about Mobian anatomy. Apparently, the simple idea of such preposterous non-regular family group was the perfect trigger to reawake the age old diatribe between humans and Mobians, or at least, between certain groups from both the sides. Whatever the reasons behind this tremendously paradoxical situation were, there was no denial that, ironically enough, the absence of a common enemy and the so-called "peace" did cause people to focus on something else to hate and persecute… The Prowers happened to be the perfect target. The old mercenary was feeling extremely sick about this whole ordeal… Was that the way people would thank their saviors? He could only imagine what kind of hell, the young Mobian and his supposed relatives have gone through. Yes, they may have been foolish when they revealed to the world their true colors instead of keeping their secret for themselves, but then again, they didn't want to live in a world of shadows… They had already had enough of it. This sufferance was probably the main reason of what happened to them in a tragic afternoon of three years ago, when a bunch of thugs, all humans, entered their home and tried to kill them. That was also the same period in which the gruesome truth about the destruction of the city of Soleanna became a worldwide knowledge and its only responsible, none other than its former ruler, Blaze the Cat, lately dubbed as "The Queen of Flames", suddenly disappeared into nothingness, along side her mate, Void, and her daughter, Lumina.

All of this was just too much to bear for anyone and Tails was just a little boy who did not choose to become a Pater Familias, he was forced by unknown and probably painful circumstances that went beyond his limited control. Snake knew first hand what it meant having the whole world against you… Although he did not, even once, experienced the immense joy (and sufferance) of being a parent. All the aforementioned data convinced him that this Tails subject could very well be the perfect potential serial killer or terrorist and, quite frankly, he couldn't blame him… He was a fine one to talk. The miraculously intact videotape he found on the wet remains of the couch, was a further proof to his theory… Something dreadful was about to happen. Whoever this person Miles knew was, he or her was certainly a dangerous individual, as Snake's instinct suggested. There was no time to lose, he needed to find the kit and the "person who understood him" as soon as possible. Luckily for him, he was sure over the fact that they were on their feet, by the simple fact that the vulpine's prized X-Tornado was still in its hangar… Completely and utterly rusted and useless, which was a damn pity since it happened to be one of the finest pieces of technology in the whole rotten world.

Suddenly, Snake's cell phone ringed. He answered.

"This is Snake, what the hell do you want, Beat?"

"Dude… We got troubles!"

* * *

"Don't avoid us! The people deserve to know!"

"Honestly, I don't give a mondo damn of what the peeps want… But I could make an exception for ya, hot stuff."

The lilac haired reporter had to resist the imminent urge to crash her mike on the blue hedgehog's head for his impudent audacity, but thought otherwise. She needed informations about this case and she was going to get them, at any cost!

"So, whaddya say… You home with me, until I'll let you get away?" Sang the sole-proclaimed Master of Love.

Ok, At ALMOST any cost!

Finally realizing that any attempt of a serious conversation with this rodent that didn't refer to chilidogs and hot chicks, was utterly pointless… She decided to play the ace out of her sleeve.

"I've got some useful info about your friend, Sonic." Ulala suddenly stated, succeeding in capturing the hedgehog's short attention spam.

"What info?" His tone became dead serious all of a sudden. It was almost creepy. She smiled mischievously, she now had him exactly where she wanted him.

"Answer my question, first." She firmly stated. He was annoyed, one could tell, but eventually decided to cooperate.

Sonic told her everything he knew about Tails's mysterious disappearance, which was not very much. He told her about the pitiful state of his house and the very dreadful video he registered on that tape. Ulala's gaze was so bright that it could have be seen in the dark… It was definitely creepy.

"So… What do YOU know about him?" Asked the very irritated robotizied Mobian. Her previous smile turned into a huge grin.

"Oh nothing… Just where he's headed to!" She said casually. Sonic's eyes were widened in shock. How could her, of all people, know such thing?

"WHERE!? TELL ME WHERE!!?" He frantically yelled.

"Only if you'll let us come with you! I want to know the whole story!" She yelled back. He sighed in obvious defeat… He could never say no to a lady.

"Fine… Come along." And then, she ya-hooed happily.

Not so distant from where they used to be, the reasonably worried form of Ulala's unwilling assistant (and secret G.U.N. agent) was the picture of ghastly fear. If old cartoon shows has taught us anything, was that there always was at least one paranoid coward in every group of teen pipsqueaks with a mysterious case on their hands…

Beat was playing that role, but he had a very good reason for that and it wasn't just the fact that they could very well have a gruesome encounter with the "Mighty Squashing Killer", as some geeky idiot dubbed it, but also that Ulala's thirst of truth aka Pulitzer, could get in the way of someone else's investigation… Someone that Beat did not want anything to do with, at least, not in person. That is why he needed to advice him of the impending danger. While no one was paying attention to him, which sadly happened very often, he dialed a number on his cell phone and waited…

"This is Snake, what the hell do you want, beat?"

"Dude… We got troubles!"

* * *

There are things, in this world, that are better be left unknown. One of them, as a certain group of persons was just about to discover, was how an angry God looked… And what he was capable of.

When morning came, the delicate yet, decisive sunlight made its way through all the calm desert, right into Lucario's delicate red eyes. Timidly, he opened them, trying to adjust his dizzy, still tired view. It didn't take long for his eyes to notice a heavily difference in the surrounding environment. He was not on that table stone anymore, somehow, someway, he found himself sitting… On a throne. The black striped, blue jackal-like creature was a little bewildered, to say the very least, which was not something a God should be… Then again, there were a lot of things that weren't supposed to happen, but happened anyway and the fact that he was currently sitting on a ominous stony chair, in the middle of an old fashioned ghost town, was one of them. A soft gasp reached the mind of the canine, Tails was awaken too.

**"_What in the world is going on, here?"_**

"I have no idea. Maybe those doglike people can answer your question."

**"_Yeah, maybe… Wait, WHAT!!?"_**

As the vulpine in the back of Lucario's mind finished his justified gasping sequence, a bunch of strange creature had already approached the sitting form of the alien jackal.

They looked exactly like Mobians… Mobian jackals for being precise, except for some rather conspicuous difference: they were taller than regular Mobians, about Lucario's size, averagely speaking. They had fur on their heads but not on their bodies. Ultimately, they were wearing clothes… Ancient, ceremonial-like clothes. As the sun reached its proper altitude, Lucario could have a better overall view of his hosts. To his utter disgust, he found out they weren't Mobians, they were just a bunch of humans, wearing ridiculous furry masks. His urge to eradicate their lungs from their ribcages was held only by his desire of actually understanding what in the world was going on, as Tails put it.

Then, one of them, probably the leader, started to talk in an ancient forgotten language that, surprisingly enough, Lucario could understand very well… And it shocked him.

**"_What are they saying?"_** Asked the ever curious Tails to the current driver of his body but to no avail.

Lucario was too much focused on their fanatic speech to directly answer him, but the vulpine could easily tell that he was experiencing some severe trouble.

After this strange cult's leader finished his speech, one of his underlings gave him a peculiar old flat stone with ancient pictures drawn on its surface. He showed it to their guest. And thus, what began as a simple surprise… Turned into pure and utter shock as the now wide opened eyes of the fallen God fixed themselves on the same type of drawings he and Tails failed to notice on the bed stone they fell asleep on, last night. Prophetic pictures of canine-like monsters eating and devouring undeserving creatures both from the human and the Mobian race with the big image of their guiding God above them all, surrounded by light and thunders… And it looked exactly like Lucario. It had blue fur with spikes on his paws' upper side, tan belly and a cold red eye, it matched his physical appearance in every single detail.

Suddenly, all the fanatic cultists bowed down in front of their one and only conducer, who has finally descended to this world to guide them into brutal victory.

**"_L-Lucario?"_**

"…."

**"_Lucario, speak to me…"_**

"……."

**"_DON'T GIVE ME THE CHAOSDAMNED SILENCE TREATMENT, SPEAK TO ME, NOW!!!"_**

But he didn't. He was lost. Trapped within his own mind, incapable of putting a single, rational thought together, he's facial expression was as blank as a piece of paper… Such was his mental trauma. The questions that Lucario's brain failed to formulate, crossed Tails's own mind like the proverbial Hong Kong express on a rail line. What was the meaning of this? What Lucario have to do with this people? And most of all, what was the relationship between Lucario and this dimension? They were all fancy and fundamental wonderings, unfortunately their answer was far from being found… As always.

The canine dressed madmen resumed their standing positions and spoke again in their forgotten human language only their God could understand. That managed to snap him out of his trance as he clearly deciphered the words "sacrifice to honor the God of Death" from their strange blabbering. He could already tell he didn't like the situation… Not at all.

His suspicions made themselves deadly rightful as the group of fanatics bestowed upon him the beaten, trembling and, overall, tearful figure… Of a little kid. Lucario's form stood still like a statue but fully aware of his surroundings, like an animal… Like the animal he fundamentally was… As his perched ears continued to hear what the cult's leader was telling to him. Tails, from the jackal's insides was feeling a strong sense of frustration for not being able to understand what they were saying, but his companion, on the other hand…

He clenched his paws into tight fists, rage slowly starting to boil inside his body, cold red eyes switching into brighter colors that testified his sudden animosity. They kept blabbering on and on about the "accomplishments" they were so proud of. They told him everything… Of how they captured this random family of filthy, disgusting hybrids; of how they killed and devoured the older members right in front of their child's traumatized eyes; and of how they were just about to do the same thing to him, until their God miraculously descended to them to clean this world from all of its impurity… Yes, they wanted him to actually feast on this kid's young flesh as a proof of his greatness.

**"_Damn it, Lucario! Tell what the hell is going on!!!"_** The kit's voice in the back of his mind had just become more frantic and scared, already feeling his guest's rage increasing by the second. No answer was returned.

Slowly, the so-called God of Death, raised from his throne. The cultists awed at his magnificent and backed away in sign of idolization. He made a few small steps towards the boy they brought to him, lowered to his height and calmly fixed his intimidating gaze on the boy's utter terrified one. Two thing he could clearly read in the kid's eyes… Terror and, worst of all, acceptance. Lucario used his telepathy to speak to him without the others' acknowledgement, what transpired managed alone to give brand new hopes to the young sacrificial victim.

"If you want to survive… Start running now!"

Uncertain at first, the boy then did what he was told and ran away with all his might, what he had left to lose, after all?

As soon as he escaped, one of the worshippers tried to catch him… He didn't go too far. Bewilderment and confusion found their way in the men's minds as they watched their God's spiked punch twisting mercilessly through their comrade's flesh and bones, extracting his still pulsing heart from his devastated, pulverized ribcage within a red waterfall of his own vital fluid. He held the blood spilling heart for a short while in his paw, observing its former owner's remains on the ground with a hint of satisfaction. He then turned his now bright red, hellish gaze over his "followers" and grinned evilly.

"Here's your sacrifice…" He said while squeezing the organ in his hand until it exploded in a small fountain of pus.

And thus, he began the slaughtering.

The usual cries of mercy and disfiguring fear were deaf to the irate canine's ears, as he slashed and torn and bit and severed their anatomy savagely and rabidly, consumed by the deepest form of hatred any one could ever imagine… And Tails felt it too. He felt all of his rampaging emotions finally unleashed from his usual quiet form, it was unbearable, it was painful… It was oddly refreshing… To kill all those humans… To eradicate their undeserving presence from this world… To feel like a God!

As the massacre ended, Lucario was the only living thing left in the ghost town. The blood of his former unwanted worshippers was all over him, the severed head of their leader was held in his right paw. Calmly, he managed to regain his usual composure and coolness.

"Tails… You've been awfully quiet, lately." He casually stated, as if nothing had happened. No response was returned from the kit's part. "Ehe… Now you're the one who's giving me the silence treatment." He added. Still no response. "Suit yourself, right now I don't care about it. Just one thing though... I suggest you to brace yourself." And with that said, he dropped the decapitated head and rose into the sky… An aura of light and thunders began to surround him. His eyes turned into pure whiteness as his unknown, Godlike powers rekindled to him. When he felt enough energy in his features, he pointed his paws towards the old town right under him and yelled: "WATCH THE POWER!!!"

As soon as he said that, a humongous beam made of thunderous light was shot from his bare paws… And the small ghost town disappeared into it.

When the smoke subsided, nothing remained. No corpses, no buildings… Nothing left to prove the village's own existence. That right there was the True Power of a God, and not just any God…That was the power of Anubis, the Egyptian God of Death. And thus, Death he brought to the foolish humans who dared to call him their Father and Creator. He didn't care about what that old idiotic stone had to say about his possible relationship with this world and those cursed worshipper wannabes… All he cared about was to fulfill his revenge and eradicate all the fools that would have crossed his path. Those humans were just the beginning…

Ixis Naugus and his whole legacy, were the next in line.


	7. Chapter 7

**7.**

The desert's breeze was gentle and quite relaxing. The sun wasn't too strong, for his elaborated tastes. The silence… Was just unbearable and, overall, irritating.

It's been a while since that particular gruesome event that led to the complete and gory annihilation of that group of deranged would be worshippers, along side their entire operational base, and Tails was still silent. Lucario was feeling a sincere amount of distress for this reason. The vulpine was definitely a talkative kind of person as he had the chance to apprehend during the course of their unique journey, therefore to have him playing mute, highly disturbed him… It was like being judged for his sins, which was a ludicrous prospective since the fox boy agreed with this whole ordeal of his own will… Or maybe not? For the first time since his "arrival" in this dimension, Lucario realized something rather important, he realized that his current host did not choose to follow him freely, he's been manipulated… He's been forced to relive the fallen God's cursed memories and then, only then, he accepted to join his cause. Lucario was wondering what he would have done if the Vessel of Intelligence would have willingly refused to collaborate… He would have probably taken his body anyway, as his mind convinced him. He was determined to sacrifice everything and everyone for the sake of his mission, as his previous divine outburst clarified. A simple life or the one of many, was no matter for an higher being such as him… Yet… That was not entirely true. He cared about his people even if he was fated to outlive them, they were his children, after all… And he was not able to protect them. A God was supposed to be flawless and omniscient yet, he was not capable to save them from that artificial doom that wiped them out of existence, sparing his immortal life. How ironical. A God was not supposed to doubt his own ways, either but, then again, that was exactly what was happening in his now split and tormented mind. It was amazing how someone's muteness could drive someone else, even a supposed divine creature, into such a deep reevaluation of his own purposes. Perhaps it was thanks to the forced physical and mental bond both Lucario and Tails were shearing, perhaps it was because of the jackal's not so Godlike twisted emotions, but the vulpine's silence did manage to do just that to Lucario's certainties… At least, for the time being. Unaware or maybe, uncaring about the fact that his feelings could also be felt by the boy himself, he kept his distressed mind running like a hydrophobic dog on a loose… Which, in his case, seemed sadly appropriate. The random and uncalled for question that managed to interrupt his mental wandering, and the silence as well, hit the unprepared jackal with the precision of a thunder on a metal object.

**"_Who's that woman, Lucario?"_**

"What!?" Replied the fallible God, trying not to sound too surprised.

**"**_**You know… I've been reflecting about one or two things over the last few hours while you were distracted with the recalling of all of your issues…"** _Lucario swallowed, feeling guilty for him. Tails continued. _**"… And I couldn't help but notice that that female you once thought about… That one that you didn't want to talk about… Is very similar to a certain person I happen to know… A very important person of my life. I'm sure you know of whom I'm talking about since I had no problems whatsoever in sharing those precious memories with you… Am I correct?"** _The jackal remained silent, perhaps driven by a sudden preoccupation, not that he needed to talk. **_"Please, just answer this simple question. This woman you knew… Was her name… Gaia Earthia?"_ **Caught by a sudden panic, Lucario was just about to answer him, when…

"There's someone over there." He noticed, fixing his red eyes on the fainted form of a small being, lying on the dusty ground right under the now ferocious sunlight.

**"**_**Isn't that kid from before?"** _Inquired the vulpine, secretely sighing about this inconvenient distraction.

"It is." Confirmed the jackal, rage already boiling in his blood because of extremely unpleasant previous events related to the former sacrificial goat that very boy risked to be.

With a rather slow but convinced pace, he approached the unconscious body of the young boy and turned him in order to better memorize the face of the youth he destroyed an entire village for.

Those cultists said he was a half-blood, a hybrid between a human and Mobian. He was the result of what almost anyone considered a forbidden sin… His whole existence would have been cursed because of that. A bunch of crazy lunatics trying to eat him alive, was just the peak of the iceberg. This kid's features were mostly humanoid, a thing that alone managed to disgust Lucario, he was wearing a dirty green tunic-like dress (Chaos knew why) and his hairs were bright blond. As a matter of fact, the only physical details that would give up his mixed heritage, were the fact that his big round head was un-proportioned compared to the rest of his tiny body, just like many Mobians, and his seemingly human ears were… Pointed… Like an elf's.

**"**_**I… I didn't know it was even possible… For an Overlander and Mobian to…"** _Started Tails.

"You are a fine one to talk… What about YOUR family?" Retorted Lucario, who immediately regretted it, noticing his friend's sudden emotional distress… Friend? Where did that come from?

The divine canine's body moved automatically as he took the defenseless little humanoid in his furry arms with a delicacy that totally contrasted the blind wrath he'd shown so far… Was this act caused by a genuine burst of uninterested altruism and pity, or was it because he didn't like the anti-climatic idea of letting someone die right after saving his life? No one knew, not even him. A God who does not hold answers, definitely says something!

**"_What are we gonna do with him?"_**

Lucario gave a good look at the sleeping child in his arms… So innocent and peaceful… His ice-cold heart felt troubled all of a sudden, as if attempting to free itself from all of those eons of dead coldness caused by both the nuclear holocaust… And Lucario's own emotions, or should I say, lack of them; and there they were again, his unmistakable, never abandoned, fatherly instincts that once defined him as a true Pater Familias. Without wasting anymore time, he darted away at lightning speed, in frantic search of a place, perhaps a city, to take care of the blond youth, who was clearly in need of medical attentions. Too bad he didn't have convenient miraculous healing powers of his own. A God that could not perform miracles… That says something, too!

* * *

It didn't take too long for the fast feet of the flawing God to reach a city… Or better, what once may have looked like a city. In the middle of nothing, stood a peculiar, medieval, decaying town surrounded by a castle-like fort. As he easily entered the destroyed gate, he could have a more specific look at the town's state.

To say that it was the perfect portrait of Misery and Rottenness, would still be considered an understatement: building were crashed and entire houses were totaled, people was reversed on the streets, covered in a sinister mix of dust and blood, some of them were crying about their tragedies and their lost relatives, others were trying to find something edible among the debris and the bodies… Thousands of putrid, maggot infested corpses, all collected in small organic and deformed hills… Hills with so many eyes and arms that they could have been mistaken for unearthly, hellish creatures who stood there as a remainder to all of the disgraceful villagers that they would have soon joined their aberrant masses of flesh and bones… Mostly because, they would all die of pestilence since no one has had the courage to actually burn them, the people was simply too terrorized… And hopeless.

This place was Hell.

There were no other words to properly describe it. It was such a pitiful and horrifying sight that even a God could come to feel the impending specter of Death while coming anywhere near it… And that's precisely what happened to Lucario, as well as his hidden companion. Most of the inhabitants, or should I say, condemned, were mixed family of Mobians, humans and several diverse kind of hybrids. He recognized some of them as hedgecats, crocorabbits, foxgooses and multiple humanoids similar to the young lad he was now carrying on his shoulders. Others creatures were too grotesque to recognize, it almost seemed as they were the product of a deranged would be writer who couldn't create real original characters, so he did some horrible rip-off instead… But that's just a figure of speech. In the fallen God's eyes, the simple fact that a place like this was even allowed to exist, was a sin per se. Now he understood how lucky his people has been, to vanish without suffering, without even noticing. If Life was so cruel, Death was just as sweet as a chocolate bar. He was seriously considering the idea of erase this cursed place from the face of earth just as he did with that other town… When something happened, or better, something… A crying woman, for the sake of clarity. She was very similar to the young boy he saved, except that she was older and bigger, and she was tearfully running towards the jackal to reclaim the aforementioned child.

As he came to understand, this woman was the kid's aunt. When her sister's family was kidnapped by that group of fanatics who's been terrorizing and attacking the town for some time, she lost all hopes to see him alive again. She was overjoyed now, she thanked the now taken aback Lucario for his immense generosity and hugged her now awaken nephew, tightly. He told her it was nothing but she summoned all the other villagers instead to give them the good news… Their first good news in years: the Anubis Followers were all dead, now they could finally have a chance at living in peace. The thing that truly bewildered Lucario was that, despised the obvious hellhole they lived in, they actually looked happy because of his actions. It was so anti-climatic that one could have almost laughed… Almost. In the midst of such open show of sincere gratitude and relief, Lucario realized something important, that even in the most tragic situations, mortals' hopes are truly their most resilient emotions… And when they lost all of them, they desperately search for new things to believe in order to survive this madness of a world. This theory could very well be the cause of why certain people relied so much on their religions and / or lifestyles… Deep down, they all needed certainties, they all craved for a savior to come and guide them to happiness.

They all needed a father.

They all needed a God… Figuratively or literally.

**"_I thought your… Our mission was the priority?"_** The un-mistakable voice of Miles "Tails" Prower said, interrupting once again the jackal's thunderstorm of thoughts. He simply smiled, in a very empathic way.

"We still have some time…" His casual reply.

And with that said, his eyes suddenly turned all white and he rose in air, once again. The villagers' celebration abruptly stopped as they witnessed the flying form of the strange looking jackal right above their heads. His features began to glow with light and thunders, like before. When he reached enough power, he diverted his attention to the several, disfiguring hills filled with rotten corpses that infested all the town and with a swift movement of his paws… He burned them into ashes. Bewildered refugees with their mouths agape, eyed the fire tearing down those horrifying demons made of dead flesh and bones, for good. After a short while, those monsters were no more. Lucario then descended from the sky and resumed his average, cool standing. They all stared at him in absolute stupor and respectful fear as he suddenly turned his back to them and left the decaying town forever. The cheers of passionate joy didn't late to arrive.

* * *

From the distance, his now peaceful mind wondered for an instant on those poor disgraced refugees and that little boy he so fiercely saved. He has given them Hope but their own salvation depended on them and them only. They had the strength to go on… They just needed some encouragement. He wished them luck and refocused on his primal goal… He hadn't changed his mind about it, if possible, he was now even more motivated to do it. Just like he did with the cultists and the villagers, he was going to eradicate certain people, in order to save other people. That was the balance of a God. Those were his certainties…

Were they?

A certain two-tailed vulpine was starting to doubt it.

"Are you having some doubt, Miles?"

**"_N-no… Of course not."_**

"Good." Muttered Lucario, clearly satisfied about regaining the dominating role he lost for a little while against the fox.

With a genuine sprint, the jackal sped his way out of the Dusty Desert, closing the gap between him and his final destination… The rebuilt city-state of Mobotropolis.


	8. Chapter 8

**8.**

The Mystic Forest, with its gorgeous display of uncontaminated nature, its secular trees and eternally happy-go-lucky, singing little animals, was indeed a sight to behold and to appreciate… That is if you weren't a couple of incompetent plumbers running away from possible troubles at lightning speed, making some Olympic style jump in the process, which seemed ludicrous due to their average man's physics. As the two brothers-in-pipes stopped their race in order to regain some vital breath, an inevitable discussion between the two didn't late to begin… A very peculiar, one-sided discussion.

"What do you mean, it was-a ma fault? We needed an excuse to sneak into our target's house and since we always dress up like-a plumbers…" The green dressed plumber began, only to meet up with his smaller, yet older, brother's dismaying glare. "Oh, so now I'm a fool, uh? That's very fair of ya… Like if ya had a better plan then mine. You're only good in complaining and criticize everything I do!" Said Luigi while crossing his arms to exclaim his point. Mario just rolled his eyes in annoyance. "No, I'm not being childish!" Added Luigi in a very childish way. His red dressed sibling didn't even need to narrow an eyebrow this time. "SHUT UP, YOU BIG MEANIE!!!" Cried the distressed green plumber before finally re-collecting himself in a more adult-like manner and adding: "Ok, whatever… Let's just go looking for our ship." At this, Mario nodded in agreement, which for his brother, was a very rare thing.

Too absorbed in their mutual bitching, the two unwilling brothers and colleagues did fail to notice the sudden nightfall. They were walking through the borders between the woods and the city when Luigi noticed it.

"See? I told ya that summoning our vehicle would have been a good idea… Now we can travel during nighttime without being spotted! It'll definitely make things easier for us!" He stated with a smartass attitude, in a smartass tone. Needless to say, Mario hated him when he played smartass… Well, he hated him more than usual. "According to ma calculations, which are never wrong…" The green you-know-what began, while checking his highly advanced and mysterious wrist watch. "… It should have landed, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…." He took a long breath in order to ensure more useless and irritating (to his brother) suspense, then he finally concluded. "… THERE!!!" He practically yelled in Mario's ear while pointing his gloved hand over a very unique object about the size of a small truck.

The randomly chosen landing place was a rather small and insignificant alley, conveniently placed on the city's verge, the perfect place for hidden affairs such as this one. The place was totally dark, except for a humble street lamp that was trying, very hardly, to do its job, bringing Light upon Darkness… Religious metaphors aside, the weak ray generated from the aforementioned light source was enough to conveniently reveal the strange object's real form: it was some kind of an alien saucer with the shape of a… Mushroom!?

Luigi looked extremely satisfied with himself and the rather peculiar vehicle. Mario looked bothered by his younger brother's attitude. The giant fungus… Still looked like a fungus.

"Oh yeah! This baby is gonna make this mission as easy as a first stage walkthrough! I love this ship!" A disturbingly over enthusiastic Luigi suddenly yelled to no one in particular. The other couldn't help but snicker at such pitiful scene, his facial expression was clearly saying: "why don't you marry it, then?" As if linked to him via mentis, the green plumber's very clever and mature reply didn't late to come. "Why do you always have to be so mean with me!?" He was on the verge of crying, one could say… Specifically, his now entertained brother.

Little did they know that, in just a few seconds, their small antics would have been dissolved into thin air like fog, when they would have found out exactly where their ship has landed… Or better, on who.

"Ehi Mario?" Suddenly said Luigi in a suddenly frantic and quite worrying tone. "… Please, tell me that that red liquid coming out from under the ship, is just fuel." He exchanged glances with his red sibling, who's gaze was now twisted in bold fear. "Oh crap…" Indeed.

It is curious, the way people could die. In this chaotic world we use live in, there have been found plenty ways for a person to meet his/her ultimate demise, from the average ones like: car accident, heart attack, smoking, consuming drugs and alcohol, murders and / or suicides… And then, there are the eccentric, the ones only rich people can usually achieve: falling from an airplane, ingesting uranium in hope to acquire super powers, poisoning and starvation in a desolate cold forest in Alaska, crashed by the aforementioned plane, etc… But being squashed by a giant mushroom from an alternative dimension, was that kind of death nobody, and I mean nobody, would have ever expected, because it was just too ridiculous. That was probably the last thought that disgraced Mobian mongoose had before meeting his highly improbable doom. It was in cases like this, one couldn't help but think that Life was a Chaosdamned cluster fuck… All the plumbers could mutter, instead, was a very loud "mamma mia!" Needless to say, they began panicking. Luigi started jumping around in the typical hysterical faggot manner, while Mario was just frozen in place, slack-jawed.

"Whatarewegonnadowhatarewegonnadowhatarewegonnado… I GOT IT!!!" Luigi abruptly stopped his jumping frenzy and immediately assumed the typical expression of a man who knew how to kill two Flicky birds with a stone… And, of course, Mario didn't like it. The green plumber's smile went even broader as he fixed his eyes over his doubtful sibling. He grabbed his arm and with a rather disturbing solar grin added: "Let's-a go!!!" And then, he mounted inside the almighty killer fungus with his brother, ignited the engines and flew away with it… They escaped the crime scene. Big deal of a plan, indeed.

Luigi's master plan, however, didn't end like that (much to Mario's displeasure) and the now totaled corpse of that mongoose was a huge part of it… The rest was pretty much improvised.

* * *

**A few days later.**

There was something about this place that truly managed to send a cold shiver into the robotizied hedgehog's spine.

A distasteful and disfiguring sensation of gruesome impendingness, the kind of sensation that one would feel only before dying or coming atrociously near to it. That is what the rebuilt city-state of Mobotropolis transmitted to all of its inhabitants and occasional visitors… Despite his now impeccable modern look that gifted it with the fame of a bright and futuristic technological utopia, no one would have ever forgotten how it looked like just a few years earlier… And for what it stood for. This now lively city was the infamous Eggman Empire's capitol during the last Great War, a place drowned in Death and Sufferance, where people would be turn into lifeless machines through the ominous grasp of the feared Roboticizer. It didn't matter how modern and happy this place could have seemed, it didn't matter how clean and democratic it would have been… In the end, it was all just a hypocrite cover, a façade that tried hardly to mask its own past, but miserably failed due to a little thing called Collective Memory. Millions of Mobians have died during that conflict, a cipher no one could ever forget… Especially not the current ruler of Mobotropolis, Maximillian Acorn.

Sonic sighed within himself. His robotic yet, Mobian mind was still recalling his recent visit to the monarch himself, who has been more than happy to receive him… And a little less amused to receive the hedgehog's acquaintances. After a solid discussion with good old Max about the old times and the revelation of the latest developments, Sonic's hopes to find his friend raised considerably yet, he couldn't help but think that, in the midst of all this deranged plot, he was missing something important. His mind was a rampaging tornado of doubts and evaluations, which was very uncharacteristically of him, and he still didn't know who was this person Tails had met. Following the dubious informations his current travel companions had, he was a blue jackal and, apparently, both he and the Kitsune had a major role in the "Mighty Squashing Killer" case (a really dumb name, by the way), but Sonic couldn't quite believe his little brother capable of murder, he'd never do such thing, unless… Suddenly, the hedgehog's now frantic mind wandered back in time, specifically, the time where the fox killed a person for the very first time.

He still remembered it clearly. It was when that derailed, crazy silver hedgehog came to the Mystic Forest, driven by the insane purpose of erasing Blaze the Cat from existence… He remembered the shot of Chaos energy that ended his life… Among all, he remembered the look of Tails's face when he did it… Wrathful and savage, with a small hint of satisfaction.

It was the face of a feral beast… Who loved to kill.

What troubled the hedgehog even more, was the reason behind the fox's course of action. He did not kill for self-defense, nor he did for saving someone else's life, even though that was the official version of the facts… In truth, he killed because Silver beat his adoptive mother, Sally. He dared to hurt her, he threatened Tails's own family, causing his own demise. Family, as Sonic realized, was everything for his younger friend, it was his blood, his vital organs, his whole life… Everything! At a very young age he was faced with responsibilities and knowledge no one should ever endure in those early years yet, he willingly forced himself into becoming not just a father… But the head of a whole, numerous family who's integrity, ironically enough, was constantly threatened by the environment. And then, three years ago, all the pressure and tension he had accumulated time after time, exploded in the rightful circumstances and the vulpine's life changed forever. A sudden question crossed the hedgehog's already melting brain: what has occurred two months ago? What pushed Tails's mate, Cosmo, who has remained loyal to him despite everything else, to leave him for good along with their daughter? In the deepest recess of Sonic's metallic heart, lay the answer to that question waiting impatiently to come out of its imprisonment and to be accepted as an undeniable fact.

"A ring for your thoughts." A certain pink haired, sci-fi dressed human asked to her Mobian companion.

"I was thinking… Should I make a calendar? 'Cause I'm too sexy for ma quills!" His predictable answer. With that line, Sonic the Hedgehog could kiss goodbye to his recent deep and thoughtful side… As well as his already small chances to impress the charming reporter.

One thing was sadly clear, Ulala was not the type of girl who could be impressed easily… She wasn't impressed with Sonic's lady-killing behavior and she didn't awed at the hedgehog's showing of fast reflexes… She wasn't even shocked after traveling at super sonic speed, attached to the hedgehog's arm, along side her unwilling assistant… On the bright side, Sonic managed to utterly impress Beat. Unfortunately, he wasn't his type.

In order to avoid hearing the annoying rodent sing "I'm too sexy for my quills" all day long, Ulala did the only thing any reasonable girl would do to kill the mood… She began talking about her feelings. At that, Sonic was so utterly disgusted that he almost threw up the inexistent contents of his would be stomach.

"Okay, seriously now… How did ya know that he was coming here?" Sonic inquired, feeling the urge to change the subject.

"Oh… I just received this piece of paper that referred about a two-tailed fox and a blue jackal coming to Mobotropolis for some reason… I sincerely hoped you knew why. Is there something important here?" She said, almost casually, not noticing the improvise change in the hedgehog's facial features.

Now, Sonic finally realized what the vulpine was after, it was so obvious. He would have kicked his own butt if he could for not thinking about such eventuality… He could have always asked Ulala to do it later, though. He abruptly turned to fix his emerald green eyes over the now bewildered reporter.

"Sorry… Our bargain ends here!" And with that said, he rushed away from her still yelling in rage traveler within his trademark namesake boom.

A little behind, Beat couldn't help but sigh in relief, now that there was finally a chance to give up this dangerous Pulitzer hunt…

"Whatcha smiling at, Beat? We're going after him! I put a tracking device in his quills when he was distracted in talking about himself… Clever, uh?"

… Not.

* * *

From a privileged position, a certain colorful duo was observing the entire scene, satisfaction was printed on their faces as they were slowly eating their mushroom based meals.

"See? I knew they would have guided us into this city's secret…" One of the two began, only to meet his brother's judging glare. "… Ok, I didn't know for sure but they did anyway!" In truth, he was starting to have some doubts as well. "Oh well, luckily my supah high-tech watch could detect that hedgehog's speed… Pretty convenient, isn't it?" How it managed to do it? I have no answer for this illogical plot device, sorry.

As soon as they finished to eat their "power-ups", a small aura surrounded them, changing the color of their shirts from green and red to pitch black.

Then… They rose in midair and began to fly, not noticing yet another, conveniently placed tracking device attached to their hats.

* * *

Somewhere, not far too distant from "ground zero", a certain war veteran was awaiting his moment to intervene… Apparently, a couple of plumbers have gotten in his way.


	9. Chapter 9

**9.**

Its smell was unbearable, its path as deadly silent as it was before… Not even vermin dared to squeak, such was the profound sense of horror this place transmitted. Feeble light sources still managed to work as their pale rays illumined the way… And the putrefied corpses and skeletons that could casually be found in it. This place hadn't changed, it was still true to its original memory… The dead, gangrened heart of Mobotropolis, its real essence behind the shiny façade the city used to be. The immortal, undeletable memory of the war and its horrors.

As the lonely figure walked through the virtually impregnable dungeon, a few precise remembrances made their way into his head… Memories of how he and his companions discovered this place right after their successful raid into Eggman's domain, 8 years ago… Memories of how they casually discovered the secret passage to this place, through the opening end of the city's sewer system… Memories of the mutilated bodies of failed experiments… And so on. It was then that they decided to maintain this dungeon secret, to turn it into their own dungeon and to give it a whole new purpose, for the sake of both the world and themselves.

Left, right, right, up, left, right, and there it was: Dr Eggman's laboratory. In normal circumstances, a password would have been required, luckily for him, the titanium reinforced door was still shattered in pieces… Just as he and the others left it, all those years before. As he entered, the usual gruesome spectacle was there to await him.

For reasons that went beyond his rational thinking, they did not dare to dispose of this disfiguring environment, perhaps out of pure terror… The failed experiments were still there: Deformed bodies of hundreds of Mobians, either adults or kids, lay in their stasis tubes, their glassy coffins, suspended in an eternal showcase of freakness… Their expressions were so twisted that a proper description would have never given them justice, their physics were just a disturbed and aberrant mixture of flesh and metal, a scientific nightmare of inconceivable proportions, and just a small glimpse of what Man was capable of, in this case… Just one man. The visitor's eyes were narrowed in pure hatred and rage and his blood boiled as his mind came, yet again, back to that day… The day of the victory, and the defeat into the victory.

Somehow, Eggman escaped. They looked for him all over and beyond the city or the whole planet for that matter, but they couldn't find him… He was just disappeared into nothingness, as if he'd never existed. The memory of his actions, though, was still awfully vivid in the collective mind, and it would have stayed that way for centuries to come… And so would, his greatest creation.

Proud and ominous, the known and feared vessel of Eggman's conscious madness, stood in the middle of the lab… the simple sight of the mighty Roboticizer, was enough to send cold shivers of fear into anyone's spine and Miles "Tails" Prower, was no different… Its wires and lifeless cables covered both the floor and the ceiling like a mutated parasite plant, a sealed cylinder was its main body… Sealed for a precise reason…

Its content.

That was the only reason of Tails's return to this hellish graveyard. That machine was now something else's vessel… Or better, safe. As ironic as it could sound, the same evil instrument that caused his parent's suffering death, had become the device that prevented his and his friends' doom… Until now.

With a rather slow and tense pace, the two-tailed vulpine approached the command center of the machine, a small portable computer placed on a likewise small, web covered, table not so distant from the Roboticizer itself. He opened it and started typing. Each and every finger movement felt heavy and utterly slow in the vulpine's mind, such was his mental state… Seconds felt like hours for both him and his peculiar guest.

**"_Are you done yet, Miles?"_**

"Don't bug me, these things require a little bit of patience!" Replied the distressed Kitsune, sounding even more distressed.

**"_I could have easily opened it, you know?"_**

"Yeah, I know exactly HOW you would have 'opened' it… But I couldn't possibly allow the risk of destroying its precious content."

**"_I'm aware of that… That is why I let you assume control of the body… That is why I needed your help, in the first place. You knew where and how to find them."_**

"Thank you, captain obvious."

**"… _Just open it."_**

"Patience, Lucario, patience."

**"_Are you truly suggesting to a God to be patient?"_**

"Ehe… It wouldn't be the most dangerous thing I've ever done, trust me."

**"_I know…"_**

"I know, you know. We're mentally linked, remember?"

**"_Thank you, captain obvious." _**And then, they both laughed… Only to become dead serious again. **"_You do realize that after this, there will be no return?"_**

"… Yes."

**"_Very well, then… Let us proceed."_**

Tails was just about to push the final button, the button of his own fate, when a noise caught his attention. It was a subtle, almost insignificant noise, the kind of disturbance an average person would have probably ignored… Tails's enhanced hearing system, however, did otherwise. He sighed a very inconsolable and resigned sigh, he foresaw this eventuality, he just knew it would have happened, no matter the odds, no matter the endless possibilities… He was waiting for this confrontation and, naturally, he knew he could not avoid it. Without showing any trace of emotion in his voice, the vulpine didn't hesitate to greet the coming of the best friend and comrade he has ever had.

"Hi, Sonic… I was expecting you sooner." He calmly (and coldly) stated.

The fox didn't even need to turn his head for any kind of visual confirmation… The utter worried form of Sonic the Hedgehog was just behind him. Tails stood quiet, waiting for his friend to ask him the inevitable question. And thus, Sonic just did.

"Why are you here, Tails?" He asked, sounding a little less convinced then he wanted to be. "I thought we all had an agreement about this place, am I wrong?" Tails was still silent. "Well? Answer me!" Judging his tone, it was clear that Sonic was starting to be impatient, which was not much of a big deal since he was the speedster everybody knew.

Without turning his head and without adding any useless emotion in his tone, the fox's reply was so direct that still managed to shock his hedgehog buddy.

"I need them, Sonic… I need the 7 Chaos Emeralds."

* * *

_**It was a morning just like others: people would wake, people would live, people would die… And empires would fall, specifically, Dr Eggman's. After vanquishing all of the doctor's robots and annihilating his weapons, for the three chosen heroes of Nature and Chaos, only one thing was left to do… They had to relinquish such amazing power in order to not become addicted to it, they didn't want to end up like their legendary ancestors, they wanted to live and enjoy the new world they managed to create through the accursed ashes of the old one. They had to dispose of the source of this power, the Chaos Emeralds were to be hide. As Tails cleverly suggested, the Roboticizer was used as a vessel for such task. They put the precious gems inside it and sealed it within a complicated entry code only the fox, conveniently, knew about…**_

_**On that day, of almost a decade ago, the three heroes of both Mobius and Overland, Tails, Sonic and Knuckles, made a vow to never seek for the emeralds again, except in case of emergency…**_

* * *

And now, that promise has been broken by the least expected person. Sometimes, it is just too sad, how things can go wrong from their initial expectations.

Sonic tried very hard, not to lose his cool, as he calmly proceeded with his interrogation.

"… And you need them, why?"

"I'll use them… To destroy Ixis Naugus, once and for all." The Kitsune answered, still emotionless. At this, Sonic couldn't take it anymore and exploded.

"WHAT THE CRAP ARE YOU SAYING!!? NAUGUS IS DEAD! DEAD!!! WE CHAOS-DAMN-BLASTED HIM INTO TINY PIECES!!!!" The advantage of not having biological vocal cords, was that Sonic could yell all he wanted without suffering any permanent damage to his voice… And so he did, until the Kitsune's next reaction.

Tails's head turned abruptly to fix its blue eyes over the yelling hog, only to immediately silence him.

In those few seconds of fear induced muteness, the hedgehog could finally get a clear view on his friend's brand new facial features… His face, his eyes, his whole appearance, was as blank as a white discounted piece of paper. It was completely deprived of the usual carefree attitude and will to live that used to be the boy's primal recognizable signs (besides the two namesake appendages, of course), all in all, it looked like the face of an old, tired war veteran who had just had enough of everything and didn't have anything left to live for… Neither a purpose, nor a family. Sadly, that description fitted the not anymore young and carefree two-tailed fox. For the first time, Sonic truly and utterly realized that the little fox he has grown fond of over the years, his unofficial younger and smarter brother… Was simply, no more. A desperate and desolate individual, a failed father, was Tails's current image.

And all of this began, three damned years ago, on a warm afternoon of a perfectly normal day, when a group of human extremists invaded the Kitsune's house, armed with knives and the like, threatening the family he worked so hard to keep united… Awaking the sleeping beast, once again.

* * *

_**Everything was over in just a short few seconds… None of them survived. Their fresh blood was spread all over the floor. It spilled from their slashed throats like a macabre fountain… **_

_**And he enjoyed it. He enjoyed every single second of it. The penetration of his gloveless claws in their surprisingly soft skin, the eradication of their vital organs and the pure and genuine wrath he finally managed to unleash towards what he hated the most…**_

_**Humans. They ruined his life, they threatened him and the persons he loved. They turned his son and his daughter in law into criminals for actions they had no guilt for… Soleanna was destroyed because of Naugus, Blaze was innocent… They just didn't care, all they wanted was to point their filthy fingers on them for everything! **_

_**Well, not anymore.**_

_**Tails's expression was the portrait of bloodlust… And bloody was his fur. But all the sufferance, all the conflicting instincts and emotions he would feel, where nothing compared to the simple act of watching his wild form reflected in the pure, azure eyes of his terrified soul mate, who just failed to recognize him, such was his change.**_

_**It was in that precise moment that the vulpine finally realized his actions and a shame deeper than the hell he used to live in, hit him mercilessly. He could only thank Chaos that his little girl, NiGHTS, was locked in her sound proof bedroom… And that his one and only love, Cosmo, in spite of everything, decided to remain at his side… For the time being, at least.**_

_**Luckily, no legal repercussions followed that event, since it was basically hidden from the media and the public opinion thanks to Tails's step mother, Sally Acorn… Who, from that day on, along with anyone else, would have kept herself distant from him.**_

_**From this murderer.**_

* * *

Tails and his family were left alone. A sudden guilt crawled its way into the hedgehog's sternum, he himself had abandoned him… He was not any better than those humans. The sound of his former friend's cold voice managed to recapture his amazingly increased attention spam.

"Yes I know, Sonic. I was there too. Naugus is indeed, dead… Physically speaking." He said, stressing the last two words on purpose. Sonic looked a little taken aback by that remark. "Naugus, as a living being, was nothing more than a pathetic human who, just like many of his kind before and after him, desired nothing more than Power… And he almost destroyed our world for that."

"What do you mean with that?" Sonic's tone changed too, now it sounded more robotic… More like his artificial self.

"What do I mean is this… What he has tried to do was not any different from what other humans tried to do, causing so infinite amount of pain and suffering among their own kind and the rest of the world… That is because, all of them can potentially be just like him." Sonic's curiosity was beginning to turn into horrifying knowledge as the fox's rant continued. "You see, I have realized that Ixis Naugus was not just a deranged lunatic… He is a fundamental part of a human being. He is that particular instinct or desire that can push a man to seek for Power and Control, to crave War and Destruction, to turn the whole planet into a fiery Inferno! That is why I need the emeralds… I must stop his doing…" Tails took a long, deep breath, before concluding: "… By erasing Mankind from history." And so, the death sentence was finally pronounced, by its chosen executioner.

A lot of things could have happened after this very disturbing speech. Sonic could have tried, fruitlessly, to convince his buddy that what he was doing was wrong, that they all fought to save both humans and Mobians, and then Tails could have fiercely replied that he only fought for his people and not for a species who's expiration date had surpassed too many millenniums to count… A species that should have disappeared within that gigantic earthquake Mother Nature sent to them, but egotistically refused to, with dramatic consequences everyone knew about.

Tails could have tried to persuade Sonic into join his cause in the name of the horrible things humans did to him, but of course, he would have refused, being the hero that he was. Then, the two unofficial brothers could have probably shared a touching moment of some kind, with tears of commotion and all that yolk…

Instead, nothing of the aforementioned things happened (at least, not in this story), what occurred immediately after the fox's rant was… A silent staring duel! The kind of thing that usually comes before the final showdown. The silence was interrupted by a very reasonable question from the robotizied hedgehog's part.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"What happened two months ago? You didn't explained that on that videotape…"

"Ehe… It is not easy to admit that you have an addiction, Sonic… I do have one, I'm afraid." At those words, Sonic's artificial red blood began running cold… He perfectly understood of what "addiction" Tails was referring to, and it made him sick. "By the way, have you ever wondered where did that nuke go, after Shadow's intervention?" The Kitsune's uncalled question managed to surprise the cobalt Mobian even more. Not waiting for his eventual response, Tails answered his own question. "It went right into another dimension, killing everybody of course… Except this acquaintance of mine, who happened to be their God!"

Sonic's brain tilted like a crazed pinball… And even sounded like one, for that matter. The stranger vulpine couldn't help but smirk, his former bud's face was simply priceless. "I would like you to meet him, he is a kind person… Unless you cross him. In that case, he becomes quite vindictive."

Immediately, Sonic entered in his fighting stance, expecting this foe to come out of any possible direction… He didn't need to look any further than his two-tailed enemy. Within the blink of an eye, where once stood a teenage looking Mobian vulpine… Now stood a taller, threatening, blue and black furred being with sharp pointed ears and cold red eyes. Sonic's reaction didn't late to come.

"YOU!!! You are that blue jackal… WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO TAILS!!?" Cried the distraught hedgehog in the desperate attempt to incriminate the jackal about pretty much everything. The new comer looked at him with his usual Godlike superiority, before deciding to answer for the sake of a conversation.

"Nothing… He chose to help me with my revenge, of his own will."

"I… Don't believe you." Sonic weakly claimed. "And I bet you were the one who killed that mongoose!" He tried again, with his pointless incriminations.

"No. But I think I know who the responsible might be."

"LIAR!!! Enough talking… It's beating time!!!" And with that said, the cobalt one immediately rolled himself in midair, performing a perfect and fast homing attack towards his opponent… Who easily stopped it… With one paw.

"My turn." He calmly said right before beating the hell out of the hedgehog's tinier body with a series of fast paced open palmed punches and roundhouse kicks, seemingly ignoring the fact that his adversary was made of metal.

Sonic tried all of his attacks in response, but to no avail… The God was simply of another level. It didn't take too long for the hedgehog to find himself completely beaten to the ground, unable to utter a single move. His divine foe stared at him with distant interest.

"Stay put." His usual grave tone ordered as he turned to the Roboticizer's command center and slowly approached it, savoring each and every one of his steps.

"N-no, s-stop…" Weakly replied the bruised and damaged robotic rodent, apparently wasting his manmade breath, before fainting for good, whispering his little bro's name in the process.

Lucario placed himself a few inches from the small technological wonder people of this dimension called "computer", the key to an unlimited power… And his divine vendetta. All he had to do was to push the enter button and the emeralds would have become his tools for punish the foolish people who caused the tragic end of his family, not to mention all the sorrow and pain they caused to the other races… To the inhabitants of that forgotten village in the desert… To that half-blooded child…

Suddenly, a thought made its violent entrance into the jackal's mind, a thought so simple yet, so powerful that could have very well been able to change the otherwise sealed fate of an entire population. It was a memory, specifically, it was the memory of when that little child who suffered greatly in his young life, found himself wrapped into his aunt's tearful embrace… They were disgraced beings, just like their fellow villagers, they had nothing to live for and yet, once they could reunite with each other, they actually looked happy. He didn't know why that particular thought came to his head in that delicate moment, but it did… And it managed to completely change Lucario's point of view about Life.

In the general scheme of things, a single life or even thousands, were nothing more than invisible noises mercilessly shut by the great breeze of Time… But, for the individual, for the single person, Life was a gift, Life was everything a mortal could ask for and the fact that it had an unspecified expiration date, made it even more priceless for a person, especially since mortals were bound to suffer and / or find eventual happiness, in the short amount of time of their existence… That is why, Lucario finally realized that he could not doom an entire species for the doing of a few portion of this very species, even though they caused the extinction of his people, even though they could potentially be a Naugus, if he would have destroyed humanity, he wouldn't have been better than Ixis Naugus himself. That, as you could imagine, was the last kind of reasoning anyone would have ever expected from a God, a being that, for definition, was superior and completely untouched by the mortals' troubles. As the humble and empathic Deus Pater Familias's brain and soul went through all of this mind changing process, his now very confused travel companion that hosted him in his own body, felt it as well.

**"**_**Lucario… You changed your mind."** _It was not a question, it was an affirmation the one pronounced by the vulpine within. The blue jackal didn't utter a single word, he didn't need to… His face showed a sincere amount of guilt and sadness, not only about his own miseries, but his companion's too. He was about to reply when Tails's now infuriated voice came first. _**"Well, that's too bad… BECAUSE I AM NOT!!!"**_ And with strength never before shown, the wrathful fox began struggling in order to once again assume control of the body.

"Urgh… Miles, stop it!" Lucario frantically demanded, but useless were his words.

**"_Hell no! I want to do this… It is my only chance to finally be happy with my family… I have to kill every single humans in the world so they will stop threatening my people… THEY MUST DIE!!!"_**

"This is not the rightful way, Miles…" At this, Tails laughed like a maniac… Like the maniac he had become.

**"_You should have thought of this before showing me the demise of your own children, Lucario! It was not a pleasant memory… Not at all. As a father who was deprived of his only reason to live, you deserve this revenge… And so do I."_**

And the true consequences of the jackal's reckless actions towards the boy, came back to haunt him into the form of a painful ocean of guilt… And a desperate struggle.

"Miles… Tails, I'm sorry."

**"**_**I am not."** _And with that said, the two-tailed fox formerly known as Tails, regained possession of his own body… Lucario simply vanished into nothingness. He was gone Chaos knew were.

A little behind from were he and the unconscious hedgehog used to lie, partially hidden behind the laboratory's entrance, an eager video camera was eagerly recording the whole event, for the utter joy of a certain eager reporter… And the utter dismay of her henchman… I mean, cameraman, who was not eager at all.

"Are you recording everything, Beat? This piece is pure gold!" Whispered the enthusiastic Ulala, seemingly unaware of the impending danger. Beat just sighed as his handheld camera was about to register the main event.

Without anymore emphasis or hesitation, Tails pushed the enter bottom. After the code was processed and eventually accepted, the Roboticizer's cylindrical body opened itself, revealing the unmistakable shininess of the famous rainbow colored Chaos gems. He smiled evilly as he slowly approached them. He was just a few inches from touching them, when…

"SUPER MARIO BROS. IN ACTION!!!" A very loud and obnoxious voice yelled.

Before the fox could even register it, something rather heavy jumped on him, tackling him to the ground.

"Thanks a lot for da gift, fox boy."

As he recovered his senses, he realized exactly against whom he was dealing with.

"The… Plumbers!?" And it bewildered him, to say the very least.

There they were, come out of nowhere, the colorful brothers-in-pipes human midgets known as Mario brothers. The older and silent of the two, Mario, sat on the fox's spine, blocking every possible form of escaping move, while the younger, taller (and dumber) brother, Luigi, was calmly putting all the Chaos Emeralds in his seemingly bottomless plumber hat, right before re-placing it on his head and smirking at the Kitsune's expenses. Needless to say, Tails was livid, his frustration and fury were beyond imagination but there was little he could do other than cursing out loud, since he had that Chaosdamned heavyweight right on his back.

"Okey dokey, we're done here!" Said a very proud Luigi. Even Mario seemed to be happy with it.

The green plumber then started typing something on his watch and after a few seconds… Something huge and green, magically appeared from the ground.

From their safety distance, both Beat and Ulala couldn't help but gasp at the unpredictable course of events that was occurring right in front of their widened eyes.

"Is that… A water pipe?" Asked the reporter to no one in particular while pointing her finger to the curious summoned object.

Luigi gave one last look at the vulpine, before adding his farewell line.

"Sorry 'bout det, boy… But we couldn't possibly allow you to destroy humanity, you know? Besides, we need these gems more than you do, so… Don't be a sore loser, ok?" He chuckled, clearly satisfied with his antics. His brother was once again bothered, Tails, on the other hand, had just reached the limit.

Those humans were threatening him, they were just like the others. In a burst of pure animalistic rage, the Kitsune freed himself from the imposing red plumber's weight and darted towards the now terrified green wonder, who just fall back in the aforementioned green tube along with the snarling fox. A panicked Mario followed suit.

Then, the pipe just disappeared into the same ground it came out from. Of the Mario bros., the 7 Chaos Emeralds and the once carefree fox known as Miles "Tails" Prower, nothing was left, other then the memories.

Ulala and Beat exchanged odd looks with each other, it was sadly clear that, once again, Logic was the easiest thing to defy in this Chaos of a world. It was in that moment, that Sonic regained consciousness, asking himself just what the mondo heck has happened.

Neither of the three humans and Mobian knew that they have been watched all the time by a very peculiar flying micro camera of the shape of a fly.

* * *

On the other end of the robotic insect's eyes, an old serpent of a man was observing the scene. His tired eyes witnessed everything, from the beginning to the very unlikely end. It bewildered him to apprehend of this place's existence and its former secret, along with all the other events that occurred… There was no way he could write a report for this case, not that anyone would have ever asked him, he was officially retired, after all. Despite the fact that he didn't solve the mystery of the "Mighty Squashing Killer" or met up with the Master Hand again (for which, he was thankful), there was still something that he had to look for… And that something was probably lying into that little laptop computer, as his instincts suggested him. He needed to go down there himself. He needed to find some informations… About what truly happened 20 long years ago, when he survived God's handheld fury.


	10. Chapter 10

**10.**

_**It happened 2 months ago.**_

_**She looked so happy and carefree, so pure and angelic… She was an angel… She was his little angel. She was playing with her prized newest jester doll, Reala, daydreaming about herself being with her beloved prince in a wonderful land… And they would both be flying jesters, bringing happiness and laughter wherever they would go, without any caring in the world. This was his daughter, NiGHTS, this was his perfect little girl… Right before seeing her father covered with something red and sticky, in his underground workshop… With all of those giant human looking dolls, around him. There were hundreds of them, all with funny faces, all covered with that red paint, just like daddy dearest. She sweetly smiled at her father, she now understood why both her mother and herself were not allowed to enter in his workshop… It was because he was collecting all those beautiful dolls for her… And he was repairing them, too! Her innocent and bright eyes met with her father's strangely widened and terrified ones, she could only guess it was because she disobeyed him, spoiling the big surprise. With her ever so sweet voice, she expressed her sincere gratitude to her beloved parent.**_

**"_Oh thank you for the dolls, You are the best daddy ever!!!"_**

**"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"_**

* * *

As the dream ended, the human blood addicted fox found himself floating into a void of pure black nothingness… Screaming his lungs out of pure terror.

* * *

It's been a couple of days since Tails's mysterious disappearance from this plan of existence… Along with those weird plumbers. Needless to say, Sonic was desperate. He looked all over the land in search of his former little brother but to no avail. With guilt floundering out of his tears, he came back home, already fearing the moment he would have to tell the others about his departure… Cleverly omitting the details.

Ulala never won the Pulitzer, her career making reportage was sequestrated by G.U.N. itself for security reasons… She was not happy with that. A certain cameraman aka infiltrated agent, couldn't help but chuckle within himself in amusement.

No one ever knew about the mysterious Anubis cult that was wiped out in the desert or the disgraced city they used to terrorize… But, for some reason, I can already tell that their role was not quite fulfilled yet.

Cosmo and NiGHTS were no where to be found, just like Void, Blaze and their daughter, Lumina.

As for Snake, he decided to sneak into the not so secret Dr Eggman's laboratory, in search of some vital informations.

* * *

Despite his elderly years, the old mercenary was still quite agile in his personal sneaking suit, although its tightness was pretty painful sometimes.

He didn't have enormous problems in the infiltration process, it's not like there could be found some active security system or the like. He easily reached the lab and quickly approached the laptop he'd seen from before. He began navigating the former empire's network. Snake smirked, if there was something that could ever survive a nuclear holocaust, it was the good old Web. Expertly hacking a few security walls, he was able to find the original blueprints of Eggman's greatest (and most feared) creations: the first ever Badnik, the prototype of the Roboticizer based on Dr Gerald Robotnik's Chaos channeling machine, and of course, Project: Doomsday… Then, things started to be more interesting as Solid Snake found all the data related to Project: Shadow, specifically, about its DNA sample donator… Maurice Hedgehog, currently known as Sonic. The files the man read basically told him the whole background story of the Mobian from his discovery in the abandoned Ark, to his robotization and escape from the doctor's grasp. Finding the truth about that particular subject was, indeed, satisfying in the retired soldier's mind, but that was not what he was looking for… Then his interest fell on a small icon placed on the farthest angle of the screen, it was simply labeled, PB. He selected that icon, only to find himself face to face with none other than Eggman's mustached and grinning, round face telling him that a password was required. That managed to irritate him considerably and not just because he couldn't immediately access to those files but he was also forced to endure the disturbing view of that very annoying face. Over the next few hours, he tried in vain to type the rightful code… He began with words like "Eggman" or "Genius", to frustration caused insults like "Douchebag" and "Assman", to ridiculous long sentences like "I hate that hedgehog" or "You will die"… None of them worked. Consumed by despair, he ultimately typed the two accursed words that have been his nightmare for the last couple of decades, "Master Hand"… And the access was granted. Visibly shocked by this, Snake eagerly began reading the files' content. There was a blueprint of a strange device… It had the shape of a pipe or something similar, only more ominous, and it was dubbed, Project: Babel. There also was some rather approximate data about the 7 Chaos Emeralds and there unlimited potentials… And finally, the doctor's personal journal. Its earliest log was 20 years in the making, 10 years before the establishment of his Eggman Empire and the Great War.

Snake began his reading.

* * *

**_Dr Ivo Julian Robotnik – Project: Babel head researcher – 03/30/3334._**

_**It has been a success! Our first experiment with the time and space continuum, it has been an **__**amazing and unexpected success… And all thanks to that light blue emerald I found when I was a kid. Who would have ever imagined what a single Chaos Emerald was capable of? Project: Shadow was just the beginning of it all… But this, this right here, is the TRUE potential of those miraculous artifacts! **_

_**It has come… God's right hand, has come to us, even for just a short time. If we will be able to collect all the emeralds, then we could achieve what that fool this project has been named after, hadn't been able to accomplish… **_

_**A portal... To God himself!!!**_

* * *

A cold, freezing shiver of divine fear went through his abused spine, as his terror filled eyes distanced themselves from the disfiguring informations he had the extreme misfortune to read. It was a heavy burden, the fearful realization that he, his comrades and even all those civilians, had been nothing more than sacrificial pawns to test the strength of a higher being. Little did he know that that could have very well been his last thought ever. An unmistakable clicking sound was heard by his still refined hearing system as he slowly turned his head, only to find himself face to face with an old acquaintance of him… And his handgun.

"You…" He could only say, before the gun's lethal bang filled the air with its definitive noise.

* * *

_**O Fortuna**_

_****_

velut luna

statu variabilis,

semper crescis

aut decrescis;

vita detestabilis

nunc obdurat

et tunc curat

ludo mentis aciem,

egestatem,

potestatem

dissolvit ut glaciem.

**"_Sir? May I disturb you?"_**

**"_Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait… WAIT!!! Let me hear the next part!"_**

_**Sors immanis**_

_****_

et inanis,

rota tu volubilis,

status malus,

vana salus

semper dissolubilis;

obumbrata

et velata

mihi quoque niteris;

nunc per ludum

_**dorsum nudum**_

_**fero tui sceleris.**_

**"_Uhm… Sir?"_**

**"_ARGH! Shut up, you metal face… You are more obnoxious than a pair of termite infested pants! Here's the conclusion!"_**

_**Sors salutis**_

_****_

et virtutis

mihi nunc contraria;

est affectus

et defectus

semper in angaria.

hac in hora

sine mora

cordae pulsum tangite!

quod per sortem

sternit fortem,

mecum omnes plangite!

**"_Aaaaah… I just love this song. Do you know how much I love this song? I love it more than World War II!!!"_**

**"… _Can I speak now, sir?"_**

**"_Sure, my friend."_**

**"_The plumbers have the emeralds."_**

**"…_. So, Lucario didn't destroy humanity? Everything has gone according to my brilliant plan?"_**

**"_Yes."_**

**"_MARVELOUS!!! And what about… Him?"_**

**"_He's ended up in another dimension… Just as you planned."_**

**"_Eeh eeh eeh eeh… This is so exciting. Go and do your chores… As for me, I think I'm gonna dance happily for a while. Oh! I almost forgot. Will you please set Master Hand free for a while, he needs to have some fun too… The poor thing."_**

**"_I will… Farewell, sir."_**

**"_I wish you Fortuna… Ciao!"_**

* * *

He looked so bored. Bored and unsatisfied. Things have gotten pretty dull around these parts, as he could tell. Aside from a few pointless festival to celebrate their own God and Creator, there was nothing really interesting to do in that small, sleeping village of his. Sure, he had his hobbies, he could jump from a tree to another and perform short flying sessions with his long puffy ears… He could grab objects and animals bigger than him and just launch them for the sheer fun of it, but other than that… Everything, in this dream land, in this natural paradise, was just as boring as school. He was young, he wanted something exciting to do… He wanted to do adventurous things, just like those people of his grandpa's stories. As he lay his back on a giant, fresh leaf, he sighed within himself out of pure annoyance. If only there was a friend to play with.

As if on cue, something fell from the sky… Or better, someone. Caught by a sudden curiosity, the young boy descended from his improvised bed and darted towards the zone where this certain someone may have crash landed. When he arrived, a very disturbing spectacle was there to await him…

A creature that resembled a yellow / orange fox was lying with his face on the ground, with a rather deep, bleeding wound on the left side of his head, right under the ear. Two simple things the kid could immediately notice:

1) This guy desperately needed some help;

2) He had two tails… And that was totally cool!

With some effort, the unknown boy managed to raise the wounded fox from the ground, he was a little bigger than he used to be, therefore he guessed he was also older.

For a few seconds, the fox's big blue eyes opened and fixed themselves over the foreign figure that was so generously helping him. The image was blurry at first, but than it managed to regain some of its steadiness. The boy who was raising him, looked like a Mobian, in the Kitsune's damaged head, except that he seemed to be different from any kind he used to know… First of all, he was dressed. He wore a blue tracksuit with an enormous zip in the middle, a blue beret on his head with an image of Pac-Man on it (everybody knew Pac-Man), bluer short pants and red boots. His face's fur was essentially black, except for his small snout, his orange eyes were almost feline-like and a couple of loosed bangs hanged down from his forehead… And then, there were the ears. They were longer than a bunny's, with peculiar puffy wads at their end. All in all, this kid resembled a weird cross between a cat, a dog and a rabbit, but somehow, every feature was well placed in him.

With all the strength he had left, Tails managed to ask him The Question.

"W-who… Are… You?"

The boy's answer was immediate.

"I'm Klonoa."

And then, his wounded guest fainted again.

* * *

**A/N: Continues on "Peripeteia".**


End file.
